#2244 - Dacrydium cupressinum - Rimu
Formerly known as red pine. Happily the Māori name rimu is now in common usage. That name derves from the Polynesian term limu, a generic term for edble seaweeds, which the tree's foliage were reminiscent of, although that term was itself derivied from Proto-Austronesian's *limut meaning "moss". The scientific binomial refers to the cypress-like leaves and droplets of resin.
A large evergreen podocarp conifer endemic to New Zealand. Can reach 60m in height and 1000 years in age. In mast years the groves are especially productive of the orange protein-rich fruit and seeds, and are essential for the breeding of the flightless Kākāpō parrots.
Māori originally used the inner bark to treat burns and cuts, and the resinous heartwood of rimu (called māpara or kāpara) for wooden items such as combs and fernroot beaters, and it is still popular for the production of high quality furniture. However, many of Aotearoa's original rimu groves have been destroyed, and recent government policies only allow limited logging on private land. Stumps and root wood, from trees felled many years before, are used in wood turning.
Slow to establish, with fairly high moisture requirements, but a widely grown ornamental in New Zealand.
Huka Falls, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand
