The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Dacrydium cupressinum

Etymology

Dacrydium: tear drop
cupressinum: cypress

Common Name(s)

rimu, red pine

Current Conservation Status

2012 - Not Threatened

Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2012 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2009 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, Paul D. Champion, Shannel P. Courtney, Peter B. Heenan, John W. Barkla, Ewen K. Cameron, David A. Norton and Rodney A. Hitchmough. File size: 792KB

Previous Conservation Status

2009 - Not Threatened
2004 - Not Threatened

Authority

Dacrydium cupressinum Lamb.

Family

Podocarpaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

DACCUP

Structural Class

Gymnosperm Trees & Shrubs

Synonyms

Thalamia cupressina Spreng

Distribution

Endemic. North, South and Stewart Islands from North Cape south. Uncommon in large parts of the eastern South Island. Facultatively extinct on Banks Peninsula, where one natural tree is all that remains. Rimu is the type of the genus Dacrydium.

Habitat

Lowland to montane forest - occasionally ascending to subalpine scrub.

Features

Dioecious conifer 35(-60) m tall. Adult trees with trunk bare of branches for 3/4 of length. Trunk stout, 1.5-2 m diam., bark dark brown, falling off in large thick flakes. Wood dark red. Branches in juveniles numerous, slender, branchlets pendulous. Adult branches few, spreading, branchlets slender, pendulous. Leaves dark green, bronze-green, red-green or orange, imbricate, those of juveniles 4-7(-10) mm., 0.5-1 mm wide, keeled, acute, linear-subulate, subfalcate, decurrent; those of subadults ascending, incurved 4-6 mm., rhomboid; of adults similar but appressed, 2-3 mm., rigid, subacute, trigonous. Male and Female "cones" first appear on subadults. Male cones (strobili) solitary or paired, terminal 5-10 mm., oblong. Pollen yellow. Ovules solitary, terminal on up-curved branchlets. Receptacle a fleshy red or deep-orange cup 1-2 mm long. Seed oblong or elliptic-oblong, compressed in section, 3-3.8(-4) mm long, semi-glossy, dark-brown.

Similar Taxa

A very distinctive species which could not be confused with any other indigenous conifer. The very young juveniles have a superficial similarly to seedlings of silver pine (Manoao colensoi) but differ by their much finer, more numerous, dull rather than glossy red-green leaves.

Flowering

December - March

Flower Colours

No Flowers

Fruiting

Fruits take a year or more to mature and co-occur with young female cones, they are most frequently seen between February and May.

Propagation Technique

Easily grown from fresh seed. Can be grown from hard-wood cuttings but rather slow to strike.

Threats

Not Threatened, although as a forest-type it has been greatly reduced through widespread logging. Very few intact examples of rimu-dominated forest remain in the North Island.

Chromosome No.

2n = 20

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Life Cycle and Dispersal

Arillate seeds are dispersed by frugivory (Thorsen et al., 2009).

This page last updated on 13 Sep 2018