Macrocarpa as a Tree

FACT SHEET

MACROCARPA (Cupressus macrocarpa) is becoming increasingly popular as a special purpose species – for exterior joinery, boat-building, decorative paneling and outdoor furniture.

The Tree

The Macrocarpa tree is a medium-sized evergreen which often grows into an irregular and flat-topped shape due to the strong winds that are typical in its native area.
It normally grows to a height of 10 to 20 metres, with a trunk up to 0.6 metres across the base, and occasionally over 1 metre. As fully-matured trees, 40 years and over, they might reach up to 24 metres with diameter of 1.6 metres at their base. In New Zealand Macrocarpa has come to mean any member of the Cypress family.
Unlike some hardwoods Macrocarpa will not leach out. It is popular as a furniture material because of its colour and decorative graining. Outdoor weathering is usually superficial and can easily be sanded back to its original appearance.

History

The variety of Macrocarpa found throughout New Zealand is native to Monterey, California, and is thought to have been introduced to New Zealand by miners who came here for the 1860s gold rushes. In its native habitat it has one of the smallest ranges of any conifer in the world, approximately 60 hectares along the shores of Carmel Bay in Monterey, California - hence its name Monterey Cypress.
Originally macrocarpa trees were planted in New Zealand for shelter-belts and as a general utility timber on farms. Much of it was milled for use as posts, railings and fence battens. Because of its general weather-resisting properties it was ideal for this purpose, but was ousted by the convenience and ready-availability of tanalised pine and electric fencing.

The Timber

Macrocarpa is a low to medium density softwood. The timber has a high oil content, which makes it naturally resistant to rot and borer. The heartwood is the most
durable of all New Zealand-grown exotic softwoods and for most uses does not
need preservative treatment.

“ The main NZ-grown alternative for rimu furniture is macrocarpa. Pine is fine for some things, but if we were to grow a lot more cypresses like macrocarpa it would make phasing out CCA-treated timber a lot easier. ”
~ P. Bruce Nimmo, Director of JL Lennard, specialty timber supplier

Existing Sources

New Zealand has a total of 7,132 ha. planted in cypress species (macrocarpa), of which 1,890 ha. is in the North Island. However, the bulk of plantings are in West Coast region of the South Island, with approx. 3,700 ha. of plantings there. For further details on tree-maturity, etc. refer to the MAFNational Exotic Forest Description 2006. There is also a substantial supply of unrecorded resource: trees planted by farmers over the last 120 years predominantly for on-farm use (buildings, fences, etc).

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