Consider the alpine zone. The environment dictates the habit of alpine plants, low-growing to escape the extremes.
New Zealand has three conifers that reach the alpine zone and one of these, Lepidothamnus laxifolius, is thought to be the smallest pine in the world. A member of the Podocarpaceae family, it is a close relative of rimu and is commonly known as mountain rimu or pygmy pine.
Lepidothamnus laxifolius is an attractive sprawling shrub with trailing stems up to 1m long. It forms patches that seldom get taller than 30cm and in the wild there have been fruiting specimens observed no bigger than 8cm.
The foliage is often glaucous (blue-green) but can also be olive-green or brown; the different colour forms often present in the same population.
The pygmy pine typically grows in the wetter areas of montane and subalpine scrub of the North and South Islands and will grow at lower altitudes on Stewart Island.
In cultivation, give pygmy pine plenty of light in an area of your garden that doesn't dry out.
A specimen can be seen in the north bed of the alpine scree garden of the New Zealand Native Plant Collection at Dunedin Botanic Garden.
• Shirley Stuart is curator of the New Zealand native plant collection at Dunedin Botanic Garden.
