Publicised as the tallest native tree in New Zealand, this fine specimen is actually somewhat shorter than advertised.
    The tree, standing on the north/west bank of the Blue Bill Stream, off the Bell track in Pirongia Forest Park, is stated in Department of Conservation information and signage as being 66.5 m tall.
    A number of other heights for a tall kahikatea in Pirongia Forest Park has been summarised at Chris Earle's Gymnosperm Database (Click here) as being 62.7 m tall (DOC emails 2012), 66 to 67 m tall (anon.) or 55.1 m (Robert Van Pelt measurement of a tree on Bell Track, 2002).
    The maximum height measured in 2014 was 52.8 m. This height, the location and the girth of the tree was consistent with the 2002 measurements by Van Pelt (height 55.1 m, diameter 2.20 m). His measurements can reliably be considered the most accurate for this tree.
    Therefore it appears the tallest known kahikatea in New Zealand is actually a 56.4 m tall tree measured by Van Pelt in 2009 near the Matirangi Forest in Taranaki (Smillie, April 2014)