Pectinopitys ferruginea

Pectinopitys ferruginea
A mature P. ferruginea specimen in a garden in Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Gymnospermae
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Araucariales
Family: Podocarpaceae
Genus: Pectinopitys
Species:
P. ferruginea
Binomial name
Pectinopitys ferruginea
Synonyms
Podocarpus ferrugineus Lamb.
Nageia ferruginea F.Muell.
Stachycarpus ferrugineus Spreng
Prumnopitys ferruginea de Laub.

Pectinopitys ferruginea, commonly known as miro and brown pine, is a species of tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is a dioecious evergreen conifer, reaching heights of up to 25 metres (80 feet), with a trunk up to 1–1.5 metres (3–5 ft) in diameter. It is endemic to New Zealand; its range mainly covers the North, South, and Stewart Islands, typically inhabiting lowland to montane forests. Its leaves are dark-green to bronze-green in colour, and are pectinate, meaning they are arranged closely together, similar to a comb. The berry-like cones of P. ferruginea are red to pinkish-red in colour and are up to 20 mm long. P. ferruginea has an estimated lifespan of 250–350 years, although it may live as long as 770 years.

P. ferrugina was first described by the British botanist Aylmer Bourke Lambert in 1832. The species has had several other scientific synonyms up until 2019, when the British botanist Chris Page moved this species to a newly-described genus, Pectinopitys, rather than Prumnopitys, based on cytogenetic, molecular and morphological analyses. The cones of P. ferruginea are an important food source for numerous birds, and especially the kererū (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae). Historically, the timber has been used to construct houses, and used as a substitution for mataī (Prumnopitys taxifolia). The conservation status of P. ferruginea was assessed by the IUCN Red List in 2013 as "Least Concern".