Range of the genus Dacrydium (de Laubenfels 1988).
Dacrydium
There are no common names for the genus. The species each have distinct names.
A genus of 21 species and one nothospecies:
Type species: Dacrydium cupressinum Sol. ex G.Forst.
Quinn's 1982 revision of the genus concludes that "[a]s here emended, the genus Dacrydium is a highly uniform and natural taxon comprising 16 species (de Laubenfels 1969) ... Its closest affinity is with Falcatifolium, as evidenced by the presence of resin ducts and hypodermis in the adult leaves, axial parenchyma and taxodioid cross-field pits in the secondary xylem, and 10 metacentric chromosomes in all members of both genera examined." Moreover:
"Within the Podocarpaceae, genera have largely been recognized on character-states drawn from the morphology of the female cone... [Acmopyle, Saxegothea, Microcachrys, Microstrobos and Phyllocladus] are all relatively small genera in which many other characters of vegetative and reproductive morphology and anatomy have been found to be correlated with the differences in cone morphology, and so go to make up good sets of generic characters of more or less equal content.
"Although Podocarpus s.l. may have been a natural taxon, ... revision by de Laubenfels (1969) divided it into four genera, viz. [Dacrycarpus, Decussocarpus, Prumnopitys and Podocarpus], whose taxonomic content is more nearly equivalent to the preceding genera and to each other" (Quinn 1982).
Quinn (1982) applies similar reasoning to the large and heterogeneous genus Dacrydium s.l., accepting Florin's (1931) division of the genus into Sections A, B and C and de Laubenfels' (1969) segregation of Section A as Falcatifolium, retaining Section B as Dacrydium sensu strictu and segregating Section C into Lepidothamnus, Lagarostrobos and Halocarpus.
"Trees or shrubs with spreading linear to subulate, sometimes falcate, juvenile leaves that normally give way to shorter, strongly keeled adult leaves in the form of either subulate decurrent needles often with incurved tips, or appressed scales. Plants dioecious; males cones solitary, sessile and terminal or axillary; female cones terminal, consisting of several leaf-like bracts of which only one is usually fertile. Fertile bracts bearing a single ovule in a medial position on the adaxial surface and inclined so that it is partially inverted when first formed. Seed maturing in one season, often slightly flattened and usually remaining distinctly inclined towards the cone axis. At maturity the epimatium forming a submembranous asymmetrical sheath around the base of the seed and less than one-third its height. Cone bracts sometimes becoming fleshy and brightly colored at maturity" (Quinn 1982).
"[E]xtending from New Zealand in the south through the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, The Solomons, New Guinea and Indonesia to the Philippines, Thailand and southern China in the north" (Quinn 1982).
I have found age data for one species, Dacrydium cupressinum, of New Zealand. There is a reliable age of 815 years for an extant specimen, and a vague report of 1200 years (a suspiciously round number) based on ring counts on basal stem sections.
"Wood yellow or reddish in colour, sometimes handsomely figured, usually very resinous and durable. It is used for building purposes, furniture and other work" (Dallimore et al. 1967).
See the species accounts.
Dacrydium is derived from the Greek word for a tear. Dallimore et al. (1967) and Farjon (2010) both say that this refers to resinous exudations from the wood, but Kirk (1889) says it refers to the weeping habit of the trees. The type description by Forster (1786) alludes to this as a cypress, a group of trees that commonly have weeping foliage, so I am partial to Kirk's explanation. As it is relevant, and entertaining in its own right, I here give the type description from Forster (1786), along with its English translation, as an example of what passed for a proper botanical description in the 18th century:
| Pulcherrimum hocce Taxoque affine genus, cuius florescentiam non vidimus, ab Illustri Solandro nomen Dacrydii accepit. Reperitur in Nova Zeelandia, vbi Cookius, e junioribus ramusculis, foliis tenellis onustis, et resinosa materia amaricante featentibus, potum, cerevisiae quodammodo similem, parari jubebat, cuius praestantiam in malo scorbutico disertis verbis extollit in hodoeporico & succedaneum potumcereuisiae e taleis Pini canadensis consecti, inque America septentrionali & inter nautas notissimi, vulgo Spruce-beer esse voluit. Non tamen negandum est, hunc e Dacrydio cupressino paratum potum, jejunis nauseam et vertiginem nduxisse, parvo temporis spatio interjecto transeuntem. | This is a very beautiful genus, related to Taxus, whose flowers we have not seen. It received the name of Dacrydium from the illustrious Solander. It is found in New Zealand, where Cook ordered the preparation of young twigs, laden with tender leaves, and a resinous substance that gave a bitter odor, a drink somewhat similar to beer, the excellence of which he emphasized in eloquent words, in the case of scurvy. In North America, most famous among sailors, it was commonly known as "spruce-beer". It must not be denied, however, that this drink, prepared from the Dacrydium cypress, induced nausea and vertigo in the fasting person, which passed after a short time. |
Florin, R. 1931. Untersuchungen zur Stammesgeschichte der Coniferales und Cordaitales. I. Morphologie und Epidermisstruktur der Assimilationsorgane bei den rezenten Koniferen. K. Svens. Vetenskapskad. Handl. 10(1).
Forster, G. 1786. De Plantis Esculentis Insularum Oceani Australis Commentatio Botanica, p. 80. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2021.12.24.
Van Royen 1979 provides extensive taxonomic citations.
Last Modified 2023-03-01
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