Dacrydium pectinatum

de Laub. (1969)

Common names

Mélo [Natuna]; in Borneo: malur [Mangar], melur [Singkawang], tjemantan [Sampit], sempilor [Sarawak, Sabah] (de Laubenfels 1988), alau.

Taxonomic notes

Type: Malaysia, Sabah, Beaufort District, Sandakan, 1957.06.14, D. I. Nicholson SAN 17292 (holotype A00003315). Syn: Corneria pectinata (de Laub.) A.V.Bobrov & Melikyan; Dacrydium pectinatum var. robustum de Laub. Phylogenetic placement within Dacrydium has not been investigated.

Description

"Small to large tree, 3 to 40 m tall, with numerous branchlets forming a dense rounded crown. Juvenile leaves up to 18 mm long, slightly curved, pungent, strongly keeled and quadrangular in cross section, 0.2 mm wide and thick, gradually becoming shorter and thicker. Adult leaves keeled on four sides but less strongly on the axial side, abruptly acute to blunt, slightly curved, 2-5 by 0.4-0.8 mm wide and thick. Fertile structures terminal. Pollen cone 6-12 mm long and 2 mm diam., apex of microsporophyll 1-1.2 mm long. The seed-bearing structure subtended by a short zone of small leaves c. 2 mm long while the cone bracts themselves may be up to 3 mm long. Seed 4-4.5 mm long" (de Laubenfels 1988).

"This species closely resembles the lowland form of D. nidulum from which it differs by the more robust leaves and by the fully exposed mature seed. Dacrydium balansae in New Caledonia and D. cupressinum in New Zealand are also similar. The variety was created for markedly shorter leaves, a condition which, it turns out, is related to more difficult environments and all variations can be seen in local populations across environmental gradients" (de Laubenfels 1988).

Distribution and Ecology

Brunei; China (Hainan Island); Indonesia (Billiton Island, Kalimantan), Malaysia (Sarawak and Sabah); Philippines (Luzon: Sierra Madre; Mindanao: Zamboanga). "Scattered large individuals are found in primary rain-forest other than dipterocarp forest from sea-level to 1500 m but mostly below 600 m, while dense stands are found in boggy areas and nearly pure stands of stunted trees occur in shallow sandy soils, especially on so-called 'padangs', and on kerangas in heath forest, frequently associated with Gymnostoma; in Sabah also on ultrabasic soils. In Kayangeran For. Res. (Brunei) reported to occur in pure stands in the centre of peat swamps" (de Laubenfels 1988).

Distribution data for all species, from GBIF Occurrence Download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.yvmru2 accessed 2025.12.08. D. pectinatum color is dark blue. Click on any point for more info.

Ecological associations have been studied for the vegetation on Mount Kinabalu, Borneo. Dominant species in the montane forest at c. 1560 m elevation, on sedimentary rock-derived soils, include Dacrydium pectinatum, Dacrycarpus imbricatus, and Falcatifolium falciforme, with densities of 20−50 trees >10 cm dbh per hectare (Aiba et al., 2004). Juveniles of D. pectinatum occur in canopy openings. At higher elevations the substrate is ultramafic and the forest transitions to dominance by the ultramafic endemic Dacrydium gibbsiae. Elsewhere on Borneo, D. pectinatum is also a forest dominant in heath and peat swamp forests, which are low-productivity ecosystems due to flooding, drought stress and low nutrient availability (Enright and Jaffré 2011). Also, podocarp success on wetland soils may be due to their arbuscular mycorrhizae, which better tolerate saturated soils with low oxygen content when compared to the ectomycorrhizae that predominate in drier forest ecosystems (Khan 2004).

In 2010 the IUCN assessed the conservation status of this species as "Endangered" due to severe ongoing and projected population declines as its lowland tropical forest habitat is destroyed, primarily to establish oil palm plantations in Sarawak and Sabah. Deforestation is also occurring elsewhere.

Remarkable Specimens

No data as of 2026-01-10.

Ethnobotany

No data as of 2026-01-10.

Observations

In Bako National Park, Malaysia (Sarawak), Dacrydium pectinatum is fairly common in kerangas forest. Those areas are large plateaux characterized by a compact sandy acid soil where the typical and majestic Dipterocarp forest can't grow (top two photos at right). Dacrydium individuals, rarely exceeding 8 meters in height, are common together with other broadleaved species (Efrem Ferrari email 2013.01.16).

Remarks

The epithet refers to the pectinate leaf arrangement.

Citations

Aiba, S.-I., K. Kitayama, and M. Takyu. 2004. Habitat associations with topography and canopy structure of tree species in a tropical montane forest on Mount Kinabalu, Borneo. Plant Ecology 174:147–161.

de Laubenfels, David J. 1969. A revision of the Malesian and Pacific rainforest conifers, I. Podocarpaceae, in part. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 50:289-292. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2025.12.14.

de Laubenfels, David J. 1988. Coniferales. P. 337-453 in Flora Malesiana, Series I, Vol. 10. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2025.12.11.

Enright, N. J., and T. Jaffré. 2011. Ecology and distribution of the Malesian podocarps. Pp. 57-77 in B. L. Turner and L. A. Cernusak (eds.), Ecology of the Podocarpaceae in Tropical Forests. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany no. 95. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

Khan, A. G. 2004. Mycotrophy and its significance in wetland ecology and wetland management. Pp. 95-114 in Wetlands Ecosystems in Asia. Elsevier.

See also

The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.

Kitayama, Kanehiro, Shin-ichiro Aiba, Masayuki Ushio, et al. 2011. The ecology of podocarps in tropical montane forests of Borneo: distribution, population dynamics, and soil nutrient acquisition. Pp. 101-117 in B. L. Turner and L. A. Cernusak (eds.), Ecology of the Podocarpaceae in Tropical Forests. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany no. 95. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Excellent overview of Mt. Kinabalu conifer ecology.