The seed is dispersed by wind and gravity. The female cone usually disintegrates on the tree at maturity, allowing the seed to fall freely and perhaps to be blown away by wind. Mirams (1957) experimented with kauri seed in a wind tunnel and measured wind speed near a large kauri in the Waitakere Ranges. He concluded that every day
there would be winds of greater speed than the 1.0-1.2 mlsec he found necessary to keep seeds
airborne. R. C. Lloyd (pers. comm.) states that instances are known of seed dispersal up to 1.5 km.