The Kahikatea is one of the endemic trees of New Zealand. Read 8 facts about this ancient tree, which is New Zealand’s tallest native tree.
I love the natural world of New Zealand. The fact that there are no dangerous mammals or reptiles mean that you can feel at ease at you go tromping around the forest or in tall grass. I love seeing or encountering unique birds, insects or even sometimes reptiles. In addition to the animals, there are a lot of trees that can’t be found anywhere else in the world. Here are some cool facts about New Zealand’s tallest native tree, the Kahikatea.
8 Kahikatea Facts – New Zealand’s Tallest Native Tree
These trees are endemic to the islands of New Zealand. They can be found on all three main islands (north, south, and Stewart Island). These trees grow in the podocarp/broadleaf forests and are most common in lowland, swampy areas, growing up to 500 meters in elevation. They used to be very widespread, but now are scarce on the north island. The greatest concentration of these trees can now be found on the west coast of the south island.
Kahikateas are a type of podocarp, one of 17 species of podocarps in New Zealand. As a friendly reminder, podocarps are a type of conifer tree that has both cones and fruit. These are evergreen trees that grow throughout NZ.
Here’s a cool fact for those of you that are into superlatives – this is the tallest native tree in New Zealand! These trees can grow up to 80 meters high! That is about the same height as a 40 story building! The Kauri tree has more mass and is wider, but this tree is taller. A side note for you fact lovers – the tallest tree in New Zealand is an Australian mountain ash that grows in the Orokonui sanctuary on the south island. Planted in the 1870s, it’s 81 meters tall and still growing!
The trunk is often buttressed. In other words, the base of the trunk looks like it has a bunch of small supports coming out from the main trunk to help stabilize the tree. Remember, this tree commonly grows in swampy areas, which tend to not be super stable.
All right, here is another cool fact for you. These are the oldest members of the podocarp family of trees, having been around for 160 million years. In fact, these trees (not the ones currently alive) were around during the time of the dinosaurs!
The leaves, similar to some other podocarps, look almost scale like as opposed to broad, flat leaves. They look and feel similar to Rimu, cedar, or cypress leaves. The scale like leaves of the mature trees are short, at 1 – 2 mm long.
The bark of young trees is a smooth gray. Then as the tree matures and gets old the bark begins to flake off and fall off.
Unfortunately, this is another of the many native species that have been negatively impacted by people. These trees grew well in lowland, wet areas that happened to be well suited for agriculture. Thus, people logged them, using the trees for various purposes and then converted the land to fields for agriculture. Some of the uses of the white wood, giving the tree it’s name of white pine, were as boxes, planks, fascia, and in boat building.