Biology:Nothofagus cliffortioides

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Short description: Species of Southern beech tree in New Zealand

Nothofagus cliffortioides
Mountain Beech.jpg
Mountain beech trees
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fagales
Family: Nothofagaceae
Genus: Nothofagus
Subgenus: Nothofagus subg. Fuscospora
Species:
N. cliffortioides
Binomial name
Nothofagus cliffortioides
(Hook.f.) Oerst.
Synonyms[2]
  • Fagus cliffortioides Hook.f. (1844)
  • Fuscospora cliffortioides (Hook.f.) Heenan & Smissen (2013)
  • Nothofagus solandri var. cliffortioides (Hook.f.) Poole (1963)

Nothofagus cliffortioides, commonly called mountain beech (Māori: tawhai rauriki), is a species of Southern beech tree and is endemic to New Zealand. Mountain beech grows in mountainous regions at high elevations. In New Zealand the taxon is called Fuscospora cliffortioides.[3][4] Nothofagus cliffortioides occupies a wider range of habitat than any other New Zealand tree species and it shows a corresponding range of life form, seeding habits, regenerative patterns, growth habits, growth rates, stand replacement and mortality patterns.[5]

Mountain beech grows to around 20 metres (66 ft)[6] but near the treeline forms a "goblin forest" where the trees are no more than 2 m (6 ft 7 in) tall. It also has leaves that are elongated and have a pointed end.

Ecology

Mountain beech is eaten by the mountain beech flat moth (Proteodes carnifex), and is a host plant for the lichens Yarrumia colensoi and Podostictina degelii, and the fungi Annulohypoxylon bovei Rossbeevera pachydermis.[7]

Hybrids

  • Mountain beech is known to hybridise with black beech (Nothofagus solandri) where the two species co-exist, and in some places the hybrids may form complex introgressive hybrid swarms.[8]
  • Mountain beech also hybridises with red beech (Nothofagus fusca) to form the hybrid species Nothofagus × blairii.[3]

References

External links

Wikidata ☰ {{{from}}} entry