Classification
Class
Pinopsida
Order
Pinales Gorozh.
Family
Podocarpaceae Endl.
Genus
Prumnopitys Phil.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Prumnopitys taxifolia (Sol. ex D.Don) de Laub., Blumea 24: 190 (1978)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Dacrydium taxifolium Sol. ex D.Don in Don, Descr. Pinus [Lambert] 2, 25 (1824)
  • ≡ Podocarpus spicatus R.Br. in Bennett et al., Pl. Jav. Rar. 1, 40 (1838)
Type: New Zealand: [locality not stated], J. Banks & D. Solander s.n. (holotype BM.
  • = Podocarpus spicatus R.Br. ex Mirb., Mém. Mus. Hist. Nat. 13: 75 (1825) nom. nud. – as spicata
  • = Dacrydium mai A.Cunn., Ann. Nat. Hist. 1: 213 (1838)
Vernacular Name(s):
Black pine; Black pine (NZ); Kāī; Kākāī; Māī; Mataī
 Description

Tree up to 25 m., trunk up to 1·25 m. diam., bark dark, falling in thick flakes. Juveniles with slender, flexuous, divaricating branchlets, lvs brownish, 5–10 × 1–2 mm., acute. Adults with lvs 1–1·5 cm. × 1–2 mm., subdistichous, linear, straight to subfalcate, obtuse, often apiculate, coriac., dark green, ± glaucous below. Male strobili in spikes, 3–5 cm. long, 10–30 per spike, ┴ axis; apiculus subacute. Ovules 3–10 per spike c. 4 cm. long, on short axillary branchlets; peduncle not swollen. Seeds 5–9 mm. long, subglobose, apiculus obtuse; black, drupaceous.

[From: Allan (1961) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 1 as Podocarpus spicatus R.Br. ex Mirb.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Bibliography
Bennett, J.J.; Brown, R.; Horsfield, T. 1838: Plantae Javanicae Rariores. Part 1. W.H. Allen, London.
Cunningham, A. 1838: Florae insularum Novae Zelandiae precursor; or a specimen of the botany of the islands of New Zealand. Annals of Natural History 1: 376–381.
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Not Threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Not Threatened]
de Laubenfels, D.J. 1978: The genus Prumnopitys (Podocarpaceae) in Malesia. Blumea 24: 189–190.
Don, D. 1824: Description of the genus Pinus. Vol. 2. White, London.
Farjon, A. 2017: A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Edition 2. Btill, Leiden.
Mill, R.R.; Quinn, C.J. 2001: Prumnopitys andina reinstated as the correct name for "Ileuque", the Chilean conifer recently renamed P. spicata (Podocarpaceae). Taxon 50(4): 1143–1154.
Mirbel, C.F.B. de 1825: Essai sur la distribution géographique des conifères. Mémoires du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle 13: 28–76.
Page, C.N. 2019: New and maintained genera in the taxonomic alliance of Prumnopitys s.l. (Podocarpaceae), and circumscription of a new genus: Pectinopitys. New Zealand Journal of Botany 57(3): 137–153.