Rimu

Leaves on mature tree

Dacrydium cupressinum

Rimu is one of the Tangihua forest giants

The Rimu grows through out New Zealand and is a tall tree with its crown usually emerging above the main canopy of the forest trees. They are able to reach up to 50 metres in height. 25-35m is more common especially in the north.

The rimu is common through out the forest. Some of the biggest trees were milled for its strong, durable timber often used in furniture.

Rimu can live up to 1,000 years but a typical lifespan is approximately 800 to 900 years

Rimu Description

Rimu belong to New Zealand’s largest conifer family, the podocarps – a group that does not have woody cones. Instead, their female cones are reduced to single scales that ripen into solitary seeds surrounded by or sitting on brightly coloured, fleshy structures that attract birds.

The Rimu is  dioecious tree (separate male and female trees) which is wind pollinated.

Rimu seeds, borne on the tips of upturned branchlets, take about 18 months to ripen after pollination.

The seeds are dispersed by birds which eat the fleshy scale and pass the seed on in their droppings; they are an important food resource for some species, particularly the kakapo , whose breeding cycle has been linked to cone production cycle of the tree.

The  leaves are spirally arranged, awl-shaped, up to 7 mm long on juvenile plants, and 1 mm wide; and 2 to 3 mm long on mature trees. It is dioecious, ( separate male and female trees)

Walking along the nature trail young rather spindly Rimu are easy to spot. The branches are attached to  spindly stems and look just like leaves. As they mature the branches are shed from the trunk. Like most trees they grow differently in an open space e.g beside the lodge than they do in the bush as can be seen in the photos below

Their prickly leaves mean that they are not considered good eating by browsers.

Capitan cook used the leaves to make beer to prevent scurvy

Significance to Moari

Māori used rimu for  spears, canoes, torches and a host of other tools and implements.

The gum is bitter but edible and was applied to wounds to stop bleeding. A decoction of the bark was used to treat wounds, and was also bruised into a pulp and applied to burns, cuts and ulcers.

It has been used to make brown, black and blue dyes.

Ngāpuhi would mix soot from burning Rimu wood with shark-oil to make a black paint for their canoes.