Podocarpus totara

Tall, slow-growing forest trees up to 30 m tall and 200 cm dbh. Bark thick, stringy, furrowed; cast in long strips, which shroud the trunk until falling. Leaves brownish to dark green; of juveniles ca. 2 cm × 1-2 mm; of adults 1.5-3 cm × 3-4 mm, linear-lanceolate, straight to slightly falcate, acute, pungent, coriaceous, patent, sessile by narrow base, midvein distinct or obscure. Pollen cones 1-1.5 cm long, solitary or up to 4 together on a short peduncle, surrounded by broad rigid scales; apiculus small, obtuse, sparingly denticulate. Female branchlets axillary, flowers solitary or paired, peduncle 2-3 mm long; receptacle of 2-4 scales, acute and free at tips, usually red, swollen and succulent, occasionally dry. Seed subglobose when mature, or ovoid-oblong, 3-5 mm long, nutlike.

- Salmon, J.T. 1996. The Native Trees of New Zealand (3rd ed.). Auckland: Reed Books. ISBN=0-7900-0503-4.