Species

Pinus radiata

Common Name(s)

radiata pine, P Rad

Authority

Pinus radiata D.Don

Family

Pinaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

NVS Species Code

PINRAD

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Gymnosperm Trees & Shrubs

Habitat

Terrestrial. A plant of coastal and lowland habitats (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995). A plant of low fertility sites (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995). The plant occurs in scrub and forest margin, shrubland, short tussockland, sand dunes, cliffs and bluff communities (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995).

Features

Medium to large tree (40-60 m in cultivation). Needles are slender, about 15 cm long, deep or dark green and held in bunches of 3. Male cones are clustered at ends of new shoots in spring, light-brown to pinkish. Female cones are 12 by 8 cm, brown, in clusters of up to 6 and backwards pointing.

Similar Taxa

Dark green, relatively short (15 cm) stout (1.2-2 mm thick) needles in clusters of 3, rigid and spreading in different directions. New shoots usually brown. large persistent egg-shaped branch cones without spikes, held in clusters of 1-6.

Flower Colours

No Flowers

Year Naturalised

1904

Origin

Coastal California, N. America

Reason For Introduction
Forestry

Life Cycle Comments
Perennial. Seeds germinate in Spring (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995).

Seed
Seed is produced annually (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995). Seed known to remain viable at 4 years (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995).

Dispersal
Seed is dispersed by wind (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995).

Tolerances
The plant is tolerant to drought and intolerant to shade and frost (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995). Physical damage and grazing result in regrowth if green foliage remains intact (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995). Responds readily after fire, if a seed source is adjacent (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995). Requires very low to medium soil fertility (Atkinson 1997).

This page last updated on 6 May 2011