Plate 187.— DACRYDIIJM BIDWILLII. 



(THE MOUNTAIN-PINE.) 

 Family TAXACE^.j !Genus DACRYDIUM, Sol. 



Dacrydium Bidwillii, Hook. f. ex T. Kirk w Trans. N.Z. hist, x (1878), 388 ; Cheesem. Man. 

 N.Z. Fl. 653. 



As its name denotes, the subject of this plate was one of the many dis- 

 coveries of Mr. J. C. Bidwill, who was the first botanist to examine the moun- 

 tain vegetation of the Dominion, and who consequently reaped a rich harvest 

 of novelties. His specimens were gathered in some locality near Nelson, in all 

 probability on the Dun Mountain Range. At that time the mountain species 

 of Dacrydiuvi were very imperfectly understood, and in both the " Flora " 

 and the " Handbook " Sir J. D. Hiooker included the three species now known 

 as D. biforme, D. Bidwilli, and D. C'olensoi under the last-mentioned name. 

 It was not until 1877, as one of the results of a systematic investigation of 

 the New Zealand species of the genus made by the late Mr. T. Kirk, that the 

 specific distinctness of D. Bidwillii was established, and Mr. Bidwill's connec- 

 tion with the plant recognized. 



Dacrydium Bidvnllii has a wide range in mountain districts in New Zea- 

 land. It attains its northern limit on the open peaty summit of Moehau 

 (Cape Colville), at an altitude of 3,100 ft., where it is associated with Podo- 

 carjms nivalis, Phyllocladus alpinns, and a considerable number of other sub- 

 alpine plants, which also find in that bare and wind-swept locality their most 

 northerly station! I am not aware of any intermediate locality between 

 Moehau and the summit of Hikurangi, in the East Cape district, where it was 

 gathered by Mr. James Adams in 1897; but it is plentiful in suitable places 

 all round the base of Tongariro and Ruapehu, ascending to the summit of 

 Kakaramea and Hauhungatahi. It has been gathered by Mr. Colenso on the 

 Ruahine Range, and by Mr. B. C. Aston on the Kaimanawa IMountains. It 

 does not seem to have been recorded from the Tararua Mountains, but it 

 doubtless occurs thereon. It is not uncommon in moimtain districts in the 

 South Island, from Collingwood to Foveaux Strait, and is abundant in Stewart 

 Island, where it descends to sea-level. In the North Island, so far as I am 

 aware, it is not found below 3,000 ft. ; but in the South Island it is occa- 

 sionally seen at much lower levels, especially in the Te Anau district, where 

 it descends as low as 800 ft. 



D. Bidwillii varies greatly in size and habit of growth. When surrounded 

 by dense vegetation it often assumes a pyramidal or conical shape, and then 

 attains the stature of a small tree; but when growing in the open, and par- 

 ticularly where it is exposed to strong winds, it forms a broad round-headed 

 shrub, the branches spreading horizontally, the lowermost often rooting at the 

 tips. Mr. Kirk, in the " Forest Flora," describes some remarkable specimens 

 observed by him near the Thomas River, in the Canterbury Alps, which I have 

 also had an opportunity^ of examining. These form rounded clumps from 

 2 ft. to 5 ft. in height, and from 10 ft. to 20 ft. in diameter, with a perfectly svm- 

 metrical outline, the main branches prostrate and rooting at the tips. Side 

 by side with these were other clumps, consisting of crowded rings of young 

 plants with open centres. No doubt the main trunk had perished through 

 age or through some injury, the rooted tips of the branches providing a ring 



