Scientific name: Parasitaxus usta (Vieillard) de Laubenfels 1972

Synonyms: Dacrydium ustum Vieill., Nageia usta (Vieill.) Kuntze, Parasitaxus ustus (Vieill.) de Laub., Podocarpus ustus (Vieill.) Brongn. & Gris

Common names: Coral pine, Corail, Cedre rabougri (French)

Description

Shrub to 1.5(-3) m tall, with stems to about 3 cm in diameter. Bark reddish brown to grayish brown. Crown with upwardly directed branches, branching alternately all around and bearing many branchlets completely clothed with foliage. Twigs reddish purple, rather fleshy and brittle in the first year. Resting buds not differentiated from the ends of the twigs, about 1-1.5 mm long. Leaves dense, reddish purple (hence the scientific name, Latin for “burnt”), lasting 3-5 years or more. Free, triangular tips of scale leaves 1-2 mm long, hiding the attached bases, tightly held against the twigs or a little spreading, particularly at branch points. Pollen cones 3-4 mm long and 1.5-2 mm wide, on a short, leafy stalk to 6 mm long. Pollen scales with the upturned blade almost semicircular, 1.5-2.5 mm long, minutely toothed and with a keel on the upper half ending in a short, blunt point. Seed cones on a short, leafy stalk to 5 mm long. Combined seed coat and epimatium fleshy, becoming wrinkled when dry, pale bluish white with a thick coating of wax over a reddish purple skin, nearly spherical, 2.5-4 mm in diameter, with a tiny beak at the tip that becomes more pronounced with drying.

Along the whole length of New Caledonia and on the nearby Île des Pins to the southeast. Forming patches in the understory of rain forests in association with its host; (150-)400-900(-1,250) m. Coral pine is a rare species that occurs throughout the range of its host, New Caledonian sickle pine (Falcatifolium taxoides), one of the commoner rain-forest conifers of New Caledonia, but in only a fraction of the stands of this species and only patchily in those stands in which it occurs.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Vulnerable

The subpopulations are severely fragmented and there is a continuing decline projected in the quality of habitat. Its extent of occurrence is estimated to be 6,035 km² and the area of occupancy is 76 km², but this may be an under-estimate, but it is certainly less than 2,000 km². Therefore this species meets the criteria for listing as Vulnerable under criterion B. The total population size is estimated to be less than 10,000 mature individuals with no subpopulation estimated to contain more than 100 mature individuals and a projected continuing decline in mature individuals. On this basis it is also within the thresholds for criterion C2a(i) under the Vulnerable category.

A small shrub which parasitises the roots of Falcatifolium taxoides in cloud forest on both acidic and ultramafic substrates.

There are direct threats from mining and its associated activities at Mt Paéoua. In other parts of its range it is threatened by an increase in fires and an overall loss of suitable habitat. It requires primary forest and is not known to survive or establish in secondary forests. It is also very sensitive to disturbance caused by tourists and others visiting the areas where it occurs.

This species is known from several proteceted areas such as Montagne des Sources, Rivière Bleue Provincial Park and Mont Panie.

References

Farjon, A. (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.
Eckenwalder, J.E. (2009) Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press, Portland.
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Cambridge, UK /Gland, Switzerland