This is looking toward some podocarp trees (rimu and kahikatea) towering above the canopy, in Rangiwahia Scenic Reserve (western flanks of the Ruahine Ranges).
Need a clue? There is something out of its usual position.
You’ll probably have to look closely.
Another clue – top centre.
Answer: several tens of metres above the ground, reaching above the widow-makers (Collospermum microspermum) perched at the top of the middle, large tree, is a juvenile lancewood (the skinny, upright ‘stick’).
Lancewood (Pseudopanax crassifolius) trees usually grow on the ground; they are not typically epiphytes. However, this ‘high-flier’ seems to be doing fine, and must have a fantastic view!
Hi Phil,
Yes, that would be a strange sight! I will try to remember to look out for them when I’m next back in that area.
Thanks, Leon
That’s doubly interesting to me because I’ve noticed in the same locality (track to Rangiwahia Hut) quite a number of large Phyllocladus growing in to tops of Libocedrus trees. They seem too big to be epiphytes and I wonder if the cedars are hollow so the Phyllocladus can send a root down the centre of the trunk to the ground.
When mature, it’ll be like a lollipop in the sky…
Nice catch! Would not find it above the canopy without clue.
It must look fantastic when the tree is mature and adopts a typical horoeka tree shape.
This is a fantastic photo shot.
Should contribute this to our musuem for photography collection.
An eye for the sky! Well Done.
Ha ha ha this is great! a tree growing on top of a tree! maybe the lancewood knows something we don’t??