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Libocedrus bidwillii Hooker fil.

Common Names

Pahautea (4), kaikawaka.

Taxonomic notes

Description

"A tree up to [21 m] high, resembling L. plumosa, from which it differs chiefly in its smaller size, smaller leaves and cones, and in the four-sided character of the ultimate branchlets. In the juvenile phase, the facial leaves are about [1 mm] long and the lateral leaves about [3 mm] long; adult leaves are suhequal, in size about [2 mm] long, in shape triangular, acute and appressed. Male strobili about [2.5 mm] long, with 7-9 sporophylls. Cones ovoid, about [10 mm] long, the 4 scales each bearing a curved dorsal mucro. Seeds 2 (one to each fertile scale)" (4).

It is reduced to a bush at higher elevations, or in wet ground (4).

Range

New Zealand: W N Is, N S Is, 300-2000m (1). Montane to sub-alpine forests. Type locality in the Nelson Mountains (1830 m), but found as low as 300 m at Haast Pass (4).

Big Tree

A specimen 125 cm dbh and 20 m tall is recorded from South Westland, New Zealand (5).

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Has been treated in reviews of regional results (2, 3).

Ethnobotany

The wood is "soft, brittle, durable, less generally useful than that of L. plumosa, but would be suitable for many kinds of carpentry" (4).

Observations

Remarks

See also Paleobotany of Australia and New Zealand conifers.

Citations

(1) Silba 1986.
(2) Palmer & Ogden 1992.
(3) Norton & Palmer 1992.
(4) Dallimore & Jackson 1967.
(5) Burstall & Sale 1984.

[Libocedrus] [Cupressaceae] [home]

This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/2285/cu/li/bidwillii.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
E-mail:earlecj@earthlink.net
Last modified on 21-Dec-98

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