Dacrydium cupressinum

Rimu redirects here. For other uses, see Rimu (disam- breeding cycle has been linked to cone production cycle
biguation).
of the tree.
Dacrydium cupressinum, commonly known as rimu, is
a large evergreen coniferous tree endemic to the forests 3 Uses
of New Zealand. It is a member of the southern conifer
group, the podocarps. The former name red pine has Historically, rimu and other native trees such as kauri,
fallen out of common use.
matai and totara were the main sources of wood for
New Zealand, including furniture and house construction.
However, many of New Zealands original stands of rimu
have been destroyed, and recent government policies for1 Distribution
bid the felling of rimu in public forests, though allowing
limited logging on private land. Pinus radiata has now
Rimu grows throughout New Zealand, in the North Is- replaced rimu in most industries, although rimu remains
land, South Island and Stewart Island/Rakiura. Al- popular for the production of high quality wooden furnithough the largest concentration of trees is now found ture. There is also limited recovery of stump and root
on the West Coast of the South Island, the biggest trees wood, from trees felled many years before, for use in
tend to be in mixed podocarp forest near Taupo (e.g., making bowls and other wood turned objects.
Pureora, Waihaha, and Whirinaki Forests). A typi[3]
cal North Island habitat is in the Hamilton Ecologi- The inner bark can also be used to treat burns and cuts.
cal District, where Fuscospora truncata and rimu form
the overstory. Associate ferns on the forest oor are
Blechnum discolor, Blechnum liforme, Asplenium ac- 4 In Cultivation
cidum and Hymenophyllum demissum.[1]

Although slow to establish, with a long juvenile period

and fairly high moisture requirements, rimu is widely
grown as an ornamental tree in New Zealand. It is attractive at all growth stages, usually quite narrow when
young, then developing into a broader tree with weeping branches before nally progressing to its more upright
adult form. While rimu does exhibit some variation in
the wild, garden cultivars are largely unknown except for
one recent introduction, 'Charisma', which is a compact,
golden-foliaged form.

Description

Rimu is a slow-growing tree, eventually attaining a height

of up to 50 m, although most surviving large trees are 20
to 35 m tall. It typically appears as an emergent from
mixed broadleaf temperate rainforest, although there are
almost pure stands (especially on the west coast of the
South Island). There are historical accounts of exceptionally tall trees, 61 m, from dense forest near National Park
in the central North Island, now destroyed.[2] Its lifespan
is approximately 800 to 900 years. The straight trunk of
the rimu is generally 1.5 m in diameter, but may be larger
in old or very tall specimens.[2]

5 References
[1] C. Michael Hogan. 2009. Crown Fern: Blechnum discolor, Globaltwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg

The leaves are spirally arranged, awl-shaped, up to 7 mm

long on juvenile plants, and 1 mm wide; and 2 to 3 mm
long on mature trees.[2] It is dioecious, with male and female cones on separate trees; the seeds take 15 months
to mature after pollination. The mature cones comprise
a swollen red eshy scale six to ten mm long bearing one
(rarely two) apical seeds 4 mm long. The seeds are dispersed by birds which eat the eshy scale and pass the
seed on in their droppings; they are an important food resource for some species, particularly the kakapo, whose

[2] Salmon, J.T. (1993). The Native Trees of New Zealand.

Auckland, New Zealand: Reed Books. pp. 7479.
[3] Maori uses: Medicinal plants, Conifers. University of
Auckland. Archived from the original on 15 October
2008. Retrieved 2008-10-12.

Conifer Specialist Group (1998). Dacrydium cupressinum. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened
1

Trunk of a rimu with rata (Metrosideros) vines

Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 12 May 2006.

External links
"Dacrydium cupressinum". New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. Retrieved 2010-10-03.

EXTERNAL LINKS

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