DACRYDIUM COLENSOTI, Hooker. 
THE MANOAO. 
OrDER—CONIFERZ. 
TRIBE—TAKEA, 
(Plates XCVI. and LXXXIIa. in part.) 
Tuts remarkable mountain-pine was originally discovered in Dusky Bay by 
Dr. Menzies in 1791, who collected young plants without fruit, one of which was 
figured by Sir William Hooker in “ Icones Plantarum’ under the name of 
Podocarpus ? biformis ; but it was at least fifty years later before fruiting specimens 
were collected in the Ruahine Mountains and in the Tongariro district by Mr. 
Colenso, when the plant was figured in ‘‘Icones Plantarum”’ under the name 
of Dacrydium Colensoi. Unfortunately the specimens were confused at Kew with 
the plant now known as D. Kirki, collected by Mr. Colenso on ‘high hills 
near the eastern coast of the North Island,” and no mention was made of the 
remarkable dimorphism of the foliage, although the possibility of its being iden- 
tical with the plant previously figured as Podocarpus ? biformis had evidently 
presented itself to the mind of the writer. The drawing of D. Colensoi in 
“ Tcones: Plantarum’’ represents a specimen with solitary fruits: in D. Kirkii 
the fruits are aggregated in threes, fours, or fives near the tips of the branchlets: 
the present species is termed ‘‘yellow-pine’’ and ‘‘tar-wood”’ by the Otago 
bushmen. 
Dacrydium Colensot is a small tree, from 2oft. to 4oft. high; the trunk is 
usually short, and from Ift. to 2ft. or rarely 3ft. in diameter, clothed with a thin 
dark-grey or blackish bark, nearly smooth, and about 4in. in thickness, falling 
away in thin flakes. The trunk is very short, usually from 6ft. to toft. high, 
crowned with spreading branches: frequently it is branched from the base. In 
exposed situations at great elevations the plant is sometimes reduced to a mere 
bush, 3ft. high, and bears a strange resemblance to Veronica tetragona. The 
branches are robust, and marked with the scars of old leaves; they are usually 
spreading, forming a rounded head, but occasionally they are short and ascending, 
when the tree assumes a conical appearance. This species is remarkable for its 
dimorphic foliage : in the young state and on the lower branches of many old 
trees the leaves are scattered, 4in. to Zin. long, ;sin. wide, and carried on very 
short leaf-stalks, flat and spreading, with a distinct mid-rib. On the upper 
branches of old trees they are short, sin. to pyin. long, nearly triangular, closely 
appressed to the branches and overlapping each other, and with a very stout outer 
tib or keel. These leaves are persistent for many years, and increase in width 
with the growth of the branch, at length becoming woody in texture and distorted 
inshape. The young leaves pass almost abruptly into those of the mature state, 
as may be seen by a reference to the lowest figure in Plate XCVI.; and the 
branchlets with mature leaves are four-angled in outline. The male and female 
flowers are produced on separate trees: the male catkins being solitary on the 
tips of branchlets, very short, oblong, each consisting of about six anthers. The 
female flowers have only been seen in an immature state; they are solitary, or 
48 
