The Gymnosperm Database

map

Range of Dacrydium pectinatum (de Laubenfels 1988). Adapted from a map by www.expediamaps.com.

 

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Conservation status 2013

Dacrydium pectinatum

de Laub. 1969

Common names

"Mélo, Natuna; Borneo: malur, Mangar, melur, Singkawang, tjemantan, Sampit, sempilor, Sarawak, Sabah" (de Laubenfels 1988), alau.

Taxonomic notes

Syn: D. pectinatum var. robustum de Laub. 1969 (de Laubenfels 1988).

Description

"Small to large tree, 3 to 40 m tall, with numerous branchlets forming a dense rounded crown. Juvenile leaves up to 18 mm long, slightly curved, pungent, strongly keeled and quadrangular in cross section, 0.2 mm wide and thick, gradually becoming shorter and thicker. Adult leaves keeled on four sides but less strongly on the axial side, abruptly acute to blunt, slightly curved, 2-5 by 0.4-0.8 mm wide and thick. Fertile structures terminal. Pollen cone 6-12 mm long and 2 mm diam., apex of microsporophyll 1-1.2 mm long. The seed-bearing structure subtended by a short zone of small leaves c. 2 mm long while the cone bracts themselves may be up to 3 mm long. Seed 4-4.5 mm long" (de Laubenfels 1988).

"This species closely resembles the lowland form of D. nidulum from which it differs by the more robust leaves and by the fully exposed mature seed. Dacrydium balansae in New Caledonia and D. cupressinum in New Zealand are also similar. The variety was created for markedly shorter leaves, a condition which, it turns out, is related to more difficult environments and all variations can be seen in local populations across environmental gradients" (de Laubenfels 1988).

Distribution and Ecology

China: Hainan; Malesia: Billiton, Borneo (common; incl. Karimata & Natuna Is.) and Philippines (Luzon: Sierra Madre; Mindanao: Zamboanga). "Scattered large individuals are found in primary rain-forest other than dipterocarp forest from sea-level to 1500 m but mostly below 600 m, while dense stands are found in boggy areas and nearly pure stands of stunted trees occur in shallow sandy soils, especially on so-called 'padangs', and on kerangas in heath forest, frequently associated with Gymnostoma; in Sabah also on ultrabasic soils. In Kayangeran For. Res. (Brunei) reported to occur in pure stands in the centre of peat swamps" (de Laubenfels 1988).

Remarkable Specimens

No data as of 2023.02.21.

Ethnobotany

No data as of 2023.02.21.

Observations

No data as of 2023.02.21.

Remarks

The epithet refers to the pectinate leaf arrangement.

Citations

Laubenfels, D. J. de. 1969. A revision of the Malesian and Pacific rainforest conifers, I. Podocarpaceae, in part. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 50:289-292. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2021.12.24.

See also

The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.

Gaussen, Gymn. Act. & Foss. fasc. 13, ch. 20 (1974) 42, f. 689.

de Laubenfels (1969, p.289).

Laubenfels, D. J. de. 1978. Kalikasan 7:121.

Last Modified 2023-02-26