Flora of New Zealand Series

P. rhomboidalis A. Rich. Essai Fl. N.Z. 1832, 363, non L.C. et A. Rich. Comment. Bot. Conif. 1826, 130.

Tanekaha.

Monoec. tree up to 20 m., trunk up to 1 m. diam.; phylloclades alt., pinnately arranged on whorled rhachides up to 3 dm. long. Lvs of juveniles up to 2 cm. long, narrow-linear, deciduous; of adults much smaller. Phylloclades 10-15 per rhachis, irregularly and broadly rhomboid, flabellately lobed, cuneate at base; lobes obtuse to truncate, margins minutely crenulate; lf-denticles small, subulate, 1·5-3 mm. long, up to 1·5 mm. wide. Male strobili terminal in clusters of 5-10, pedicels 3-10 mm. long; staminal portion c. 1 cm. long, apiculus small, triquetrous; carpidia rather thick, marginal on reduced final phylloclades up to 3 cm. long, in clusters of 6-8; seeds nutlike, exserted beyond irregularly crenulate cupule, c. 3 mm. long.

DIST.: N., S. Lowland forest, N. Cape to lat. 40° in N., and northern Marlborough and Nelson, extending to nearly lat. 42° on west.