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Conifers: phylum Coniferophyta
Gymnosperms native to New Zealand
There are four phyla (divisions) of gymnosperms living today: Ginkgophyta, Gnetophyta, Cycadophyta and Coniferophyta.
Only the Coniferophyta (conifers) have species that are native to New Zealand and all of these are endemic (found nowhere else).
Common name |
Family name |
Total number of species |
Species native to |
Found in Northern (N) or Southern (S) Hemisphere |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Kauri family |
40 |
1 |
S |
|
cypress & redwood family |
132 |
2 |
S (some N) |
|
| celery pine family | Phyllocladaceae | 5 | 3 | S |
| podocarp family | Podocarpaceae |
169 |
14 |
S (some N) |
| pine family |
Pinaceae |
191 |
0 |
N |
| Cephalotaxaceae | 3 |
0 |
N |
|
| yew family |
Taxaceae |
16 |
0 |
N |
The seed plants were present in the Late Devonian Period about 360 million years ago.
They gave rise to several different lines of gymnosperms which became common in the Mesozoic landscape for at least 180 million years
