A tree in habitat; one of the photos posted on the endemia.nc page for D. vieillardii [Irène Létocart].
Detail drawing from de Laubenfels (1972).
A tree in habitat; one of the photos posted on the endemia.nc page for D. vieillardii [Irène Létocart].
Detail drawing from de Laubenfels (1972).
Dacrycarpus vieillardii
Synonymy (Farjon 1998):
"Tree reaching heights of up to 25 m. Bark hard, slightly tough with scattered lenticels, exfoliating in small leafy scales or short bands, dark brown but becoming gray with age, slightly fibrous or granular inside. Juvenile leaves flattened bilateral and distichous, 10 × 1 mm, spreading out and sharp with a small apex turned toward the tip of shoot more or less parallel with the shoot; very small on the top of the shoot and at its base, they are progressively reduced in size, thicken and loosen their distichous disposition. Adult leaves acicular, sometimes not flattened bifacial, upright, spreading out in a 30° angle, sharp, with a small apex turned toward the tip of the shoot, not distichous, 2-4 mm long, at least in the middle 2-4 mm long, but starting like the scales at the base to form a growth unit on the shoot, with a width of 0.4-0.6 mm and a thickness of 0.4-0.8 mm, the shoot extends itself sometimes for an additional growth unit. Leaves of the principal shoot scaly, flattened bifacial, at least 2 mm long. Pollen cone lateral, axillary on a short stipe carrying a number of small scales, or seldom terminal on a short shoot, linear, 7-12 mm long × 1 mm in diameter. Microsporophylls triangular and sharp. Seed cone on a scaly, lateral or terminal shoot, 6-8 mm long, the scales 0.6-0.8 mm long, the cone at its base surrounded by 6-10 spreading involucre leaves, 1-2 mm long, robust, with a sharp carina, the cone itself forming a small verrucose receptacle, 2-3 mm long with a sterile bract projecting and 1 or rarely 2 subapical fertile bracts. Seed ovoid or globose, generally with a double blunt ridge, a little bit longer at the base, 5.5-6 mm long by 4 mm in diameter" (de Laubenfels 1972).
New Caledonia, throughout the main island on serpentine soils along riverbanks, moist depressions and in frequently flooded areas from sea level to 900 m elevation. Within its range, mean annual temperature is 21.2°C, with an average minimum in the coldest month of 14.2°C, and a mean annual precipitation of 1655 mm (Biffin et al. 2011, Table S5).
This map shows herbarium records of Dacrycarpus vieillardii. Click on an icon for further information. Distribution data from GBIF (2020.03.30), edited to remove duplicates.
"The most closely related species is D. steupii (Wasscher) de Laubenfels from New Guinea and Indonesia but D. dacrydioides (A. Richard) de Laubenfels from New Zealand is also very similar. All three species prefer marshy, wet locations and have short, sharp and robust leaves. They species differ from each other by the form of the involucre leaves around the receptacle and by the size of ordinary leaves" (de Laubenfels 1972).
Collection locations recorded by de Laubenfels (1972) include:
The IUCN reports that the population status is stable.
No data as of 2023.02.21.
No data as of 2023.02.21.
No data as of 2023.02.21.
The epithet honors French botanist Eugene Viellard (1819-1896), who collected the type specimen.
Laubenfels, D. J. de. 1969. A revision of the Malesian and Pacific rainforest conifers, I. Podocarpaceae, in part. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 50:326-328. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2021.12.24.
Thanks to Ferenc Kiss for translating de Laubenfels from the French (2004.01).
Association Endemia, a site devoted to New Caledonian species. Has excellent photos, a range map, and other information. In French.
Last Modified 2023-02-26
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