DACRYDIUM CUPRESSINUM, Solander. 
THE RIMU OR RED-PINE. 
OrDER—CONIFPERE. 
TRIBE—TAXE. 
(Plates XVIII., XIX., XX., XXI., and XXII.) 
TuE rimu, or red-pine as it is most frequently termed by the settlers, occupies a 
larger area of the New Zealand forests than any other timber-tree, and affords 
remunerative employment to a larger number of workers. Although of less 
intrinsic value than kauri or totara, it is adapted to a larger number of important 
uses, and is easily converted: these advantages, together with its wide distribu- 
tion and great abundance, render it the most important commercial timber of 
the colony. 
The rimu is a fine tree, varying in height from 4oft. to 8oft., with a trunk 
from 2ft. to 4ft. or even 5ft. in diameter; the dark-brown or grey bark falls away 
in thick heavy scales, exactly as in the Scotch firs and other pines of the 
Northern Hemisphere. From its remarkable weeping habit it is the most easily 
recognised and the best known of all New Zealand timber-trees. In the seedling 
state the young leaves are awl-shaped, and attached by a rather broad base, being 
equally distributed on all sides of the stem: in this stage they are about half an 
inch long, lax, and open. As the plant increases in height the leaves gradually 
decrease in length, and become roughly three-sided; at the same time they 
become more rigid and close-set, at length overlapping; they are now reduced to 
one-tenth of an inch in length, or even less. When growing in moderately open 
situations the rimu assumes a conical habit; the branches are pendulous, but 
the leader is erect, and the tree is extremely beautiful; its weeping habit is unique 
amongst New Zealand pines: in fact, no other known pine approaches it in 
beauty. In open places in forests this condition is permanent for many years ; 
but most frequently the rimu is closely surrounded by trees of its own or other 
kinds, so that the young spreading branches die off, and the tree forms a com- 
paratively small round head, with drooping branches. 
The male and female flowers are produced on separate trees, from October 
to December, the female on short recurved branchlets as shown in Plate XVIII. 
The fruit consists of a nut seated on a red fleshy receptacle clothed with green 
scales, and requires a year and a quarter to attain maturity, ripening from 
January to March. During wet cold seasons the fleshy portion of the fruit is 
but imperfectly developed; when germinating the fruit develops two cotyledons 
as in ordinary deciduous trees. 
It was discovered during Cook’s first expedition, and the genus Dacrydium 
was constituted by Dr. Solander for its reception. 
PROPERTIES AND USES. 
Rimu logs can be obtained of any dimensions up to 4ft. in diameter, and 
afford a handsome timber of a deep-red colour, with dark or light, sometimes 
yellow, streaks and markings, forming a good figure. 
