TAXACE^ 31 



This is probably the smallest known conifer, fruiting speci- 

 mens barely 3 in. high and wide being sometimes found. 



Native of New Zealand, where it is common in mountain 

 districts usually between 2,500-4,000 ft. elevation. Its chief 

 value is in checking erosion. 



Kirk, loc. cit. 1G9, t. 87 ; Chocscman, Handb. New Zeal. Fl. G57 (1906). 



Dacrydium lycopodioides, Brongniart and Gris. 



A tree 30-40 ft. high, of fastigiate habit. Branchlets erect, 

 dense. /yeaw6' crowded, narrowly lance-shaped, about I in. long, 

 rigid, shari)ly pointed, keeled beneath. Seed ovoid. 



Native of New Caledonia. Compton describes it as a tree of 

 slender, graceful habit occurring in coniferous forests at 3,500 

 ft. altitude. 



Dacrydium novo-guineense, Gibbs.^ 

 A small tree 30-35 ft. high, with a short trunk and rounded 

 head of erect, rigid branches. Juvenile leaves plumose, needle-like, 

 sharply pointed and curved at the apex ; adult leaves scale-like, 

 triangular, closely pressed to the shoots. Seed small, red, fleshy, 

 from the points of branches. 



Found at altitudes of 7,000-9,000 ft. in the Arfak Mountains 

 of Dutch N.W. New Guinea. 



Dacrydium taxoides, Brongniart and Gris. 



A shrub of conical habit or a tree up to 50 ft. high.^ Young 

 shoots purple in colour. Leaves alternate, but appearing more 

 or less in two opposite rows, oblong-lanceolate, slightly curved, 

 acute or sub-acute at the apex. Male flowers in axillary or 

 terminal spikes. Seed ovoid, laterally compressed. 



Native of New Caledonia. 



MICROCAGHRYS, Hooker fil. 



A monotypic genus distinguished by its prostrate, whip -like, 

 four-angled branchlets and by its translucent, fleshy, cone-like 

 fruits. 



Microcachrys tetragona, Hooker fil. 

 A low, straggling, evergreen bush with long, slender, whip- 

 like, four-angled branchlets. Leaves arranged in four regular 

 ranks, scale-like, about /,. in. long, uniform in size, with finely 

 ciliate margins, remaining for many years on the main shoot. 

 Male and female flowers terminal on separate shoots of the same 

 plant ; the former oblong or egg-shaped, about | in. long with 20 

 or more stamens. Cones egg-shaped or rounded, |-^ in. long, 



1 Contrib. Phytogeo. and Fl. Arfak Mount. 78-80 (1917). 

 ^ Compton, loc. cit. 427. 



