New Zealand Journal of Botany abstracts

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White Pine Bush ó an alluvial kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides) forest remnant, eastern Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

M. C. SMALE

Forest Research Institute
Private Bag, Rotorua, New Zealand

Abstract White Pine Bush, an alluvial forest remnant in the eastern Bay of Plenty, North Island, New Zealand, comprises scattered Dacrycarpus dacrydioides emergent above angiosperm layers dominated by Beilschmiedia tawa and Melicytus ramiflorus ssp. ramiflorus. Composition of the more extensive pre-European forest reflected the soil pat- tern. Podocarpus spicatus in particular being con- fined to well-drained, sandy soils. At least one previous forest community, a dense pole podocarp stand, has occupied the site, dated at c. 2000 years B.P. The limited evidence available suggests that the present Dacrycarpus population may derive largely from mass recruitment 300 or more years ago; current replacement is largely ineffective. In the absence of further major flooding and siltation, a forest increasingly dominated by angiosperms is likely to evolve. A floristic list is appended.

Keywords kahikatea; Dacrycarpus dacrydioides; alluvial forest; vegetation history; Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Received 8 August 1983; accepted 1 November 1983
New Zealand Journal of Botany, 1984, Vol. 22 : 201-206
0028-825X/84/2202-0201$2.50/0 © Crown copyright 1984

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (449K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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