mataī with dark bark that flakes in small rounds

Size
Height: 20–30 m
Lifespan
300–500 years
Diet
Produces small, purple-black berries (fleshy cones) eaten by native birds including kererū, tūī, and kākā. The berries are an important food source for forest birds.
Habitat
Lowland and coastal forests of North Island and northern South Island. Prefers fertile, well-drained soils on river terraces, hillslopes, and forest margins.
Range
Found in lowland and coastal forests of the North Island and northern half of the South Island. Most common in fertile, well-drained soils on river terraces and hillslopes.
Endemism
Endemic
Main Threats
Habitat loss is the primary threat. Many lowland forests where mataī once dominated have been cleared for agriculture. Also threatened by historical logging and browsing of seedlings by possums and goats.
Population
Not Threatened, though many large, old-growth Mataī were felled for timber in 19th and early 20th centuries. Wood prized for flooring and furniture. Still common, but giants are rare.
Conservation Status
Not Threatened
Human Risk
harmless
Handling Note
native conifer, safe to handle
Conservation Note
Endemic conifer; widespread in lowland and montane forests throughout New Zealand.
Assessment
NZTCS Vascular Plants (2023)
Te Ao Māori
Mataī. The name is simple. Direct. In Māori tradition, Mataī was a tree of lowland forests. A source of timber and fruit. Its berries were eaten. Sweet, but not much flesh. Its wood was used for tools. For paddles. For frames of houses. The tree was also a marker. A lowland forest with Mataī was a forest of rich soil. Of deep ground. Of a place where birds gathered. Kererū came for berries. Kākā came for insects in bark. The forest was alive with sound of feeding. Today Mataī still stands in lowland forests of North Island.
The quiet achiever of the podocarp forest. Mataī does not scream for attention like rimu with its weeping foliage. Or kauri with its massive trunk. It stands there. Dark and dense. Minding its own business. Its bark is dark brown to almost black. Rough and scaly. Cracking into small, square plates. From a distance, the tree looks like a dark green pillar. A column of shadow in the lighter canopy of broadleaf trees. What makes it special? The foliage. Mataī leaves are small. Narrow. Sharply pointed. Like a tiny lance head. Dark green on top and paler underneath. Arranged in two rows along branchlets. Giving the foliage a flat, fern-like appearance. Unlike the drooping, weeping branchlets of rimu, Mataī holds its foliage stiff and upright. A tree that does not bend. The bark is another clue. Older Mataī trees develop a distinctive, almost corky bark. Deeply furrowed and dark. In lowland forests of Wairarapa and Hawke Bay, old Mataī were known as black pines. A reference to their dark trunks and timber. The fruit is where Mataī truly shines. The tree is dioecious. Separate male and female trees. Females produce a small, fleshy, blue-black berry. It sits on a thin, red stem. Sweet and rich. A high-energy food for kererū (wood pigeon). Kererū swallows berry whole. Digests flesh. And poops out seed somewhere else. Mataī travels on wings. The wood is dense. Heavy. Straight-grained. Used for flooring. Weatherboards. Frames of houses. Older trees often develop a dark, almost black heartwood. Black mataī. Prized for decorative inlay and fine furniture. A Mataī floorboard laid down in 1920 is probably still there. Still straight. Still solid. To stand under a Mataī is to stand under a dark green umbrella. Dense foliage. Deep shade. Trunk black and rough. Not the tallest. Not the flashiest. The quiet one. The steady one. The tree that holds the line while others fight for light. It has been here for millennia. It will be here as long as the forest needs a dark green pillar in the canopy.