Nothofagus cliffortioides

Nothofagus cliffortioides, commonly called mountain beech (Māori: tawhai rauriki), is a species of southern beech tree and is endemic to New Zealand. Mountain beech grows in mountainous regions at high elevations. In New Zealand the taxon is called Fuscospora cliffortioides.^[3][4] Nothofagus cliffortioides occupies a wider range of habitat than any other New Zealand tree species and it shows a corresponding range of life form, seeding habits, regenerative patterns, growth habits, growth rates, stand replacement and mortality patterns.^[5]

Nothofagus cliffortioides
Mountain beech trees
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Fagales
Family:	Nothofagaceae
Genus:	Nothofagus
Subgenus:	Nothofagus subg. Fuscospora
Species:	N. cliffortioides
Binomial name
Nothofagus cliffortioides (Hook.f.) Oerst.
Synonyms[2]
Fagus cliffortioides Hook.f. (1844) Fuscospora cliffortioides (Hook.f.) Heenan & Smissen (2013) Nothofagus solandri var. cliffortioides (Hook.f.) Poole (1963)

Mountain beech grows to around 20 metres (66 ft)^[6] but near the treeline forms a "goblin forest" where the trees are no more than 2 m (6 ft 7 in) tall. It also has leaves that are elongated and have a pointed end.

Ecology

Mountain beech is eaten by the mountain beech flat moth (Proteodes carnifex), and is a host plant for the lichens Yarrumia colensoi and Podostictina degelii, and the fungi Annulohypoxylon bovei and Rossbeevera pachydermis.^[7]

Hybrids

• Mountain beech is known to hybridise with black beech (Nothofagus solandri) where the two species co-exist, and in some places the hybrids may form complex introgressive hybrid swarms.^[8]
• Mountain beech also hybridises with red beech (Nothofagus fusca) to form the hybrid species Nothofagus × blairii.^[3]