Dacrycarpus dacrydioides, kahikatea or white pine is endemic to the North, South and Stewart Islands. It is found in lowland forest, formerly dominant on frequently flooded, and/or poorly drained alluvial soils. Occasionally extends into lower montane forest. Once the dominant tree of a distinct swamp forest type it is all but extinct in the North Island - the best examples remain on the West Coast of the South Island. There are great examples of this tree in areas of Banks Peninsula and at Riccarton Bush in Christchurch. It is the tallest of our native trees reaching its full potential after about 750 years. It prefers growing in wet swamp-lands but will grow in dryer sites if sheltered.

It is a stout, dioecious, cohort-forming conifer 50-65m. tall with a trunk 1-2m diameter that is often fluted and buttressed. It has grey to dark-grey bark, falling in thick, sinuous flakes. It has scale-like leaves. It flowers from October to January, then produces orange-red terminal fruits (female plants) from February to April, that bear the distinctive circular seeds serve to immediately distinguish this species from all other indigenous conifers. Its orange-red fruit is a favourite food for Kereru (wood pigeon). The Maori name kahikatea is now more widely used than kahika, katea. Like many other species in the family Podocarpaceae, the classification of kahikatea has changed over time, having also been placed in the genera Podocarpus and Nageia. The wood was tough, easy to work but not durable in weather and prone to attack by wood-boring insects. Since the wood does not impart an odour and is clean and lightweight, Kahikatea was used to make boxes for the exporting of butter when the refrigerated export became feasible from Australia and New Zealand in the 1880s. The butter was exported in 56 lb slabs, and kahikatea became less common as the export industry grew. It was this practice which all but eliminated kahikatea-dominated swamp forest from the North Island and northern South Island. When treated it was used for scaffold planks, weatherboards, fascia boards, mouldings, window sashes, feature panelling and in boat building. For Maori, the kahikatea had many uses. The fleshy aril or koroi was an important food resource and was served at feasts in great amounts. The constructed the waka (canoe) with it. Soot obtained from burning the heartwood supplied a pigment for traditional tattooing (ta moko). The wood was also favoured for making bird spears. Nowadays Kahikatea along with other tree species in privately owned forests can only be harvested under a permit system and only if sustainable harvesting techniques are used.