"New Guinea: kaowié, kowié, Arfak, Manikiong lang., aru, Wissel Lakes, Kapauko lang., munump, Nondugl, Minj" (de Laubenfels 1988).
"Tree, 1.5-29 m tall, up to 50 cm diam., with ascending branches and numerous branchlets producing a dense rounded crown. Juvenile leaves up to at least 1 cm long, lanceolate, acute, spreading but curved so that the apex normally turns slightly inward towards the shoot, often shorter at the base of the shoot and on main axes, strongly keeled on the back, 0.2 mm thick and 0.4-0.7 mm wide, giving way abruptly to short transitional scales on plants about half a metre high, sometimes twisted to the side giving a spiral effect to the shoot. Transitional leaves, if present, up to c. 2 mm long and spreading slightly. Adult shoots cord-like, 1-2 mm diam. Adult scale-leaves strongly keeled on the back, acute, imbricate, 0.8-1.7 mm long and 0.4-1 mm wide. Fertile structures terminal, usually on short or very short lateral shoots. Pollen cones 5-8 mm long and 1.5 mm diam., apex of the microsporophyll less than 1 mm long. Seed-bearing structure formed of elongated bracts, the longest towards the apex 3 by 0.5 mm. Seed 5 mm long and dark brown" (de Laubenfels 1988).
Central & SE. Celebes, Moluccas (Buru, Obi), and common throughout New Guinea. "Along mossy crests and in open areas from 700 to 3000 m, but mostly between 1500 and 2200 m. Rising above the mid mountain canopy or a common small tree at higher elevations rising above ferns and other scrub often after fire, sometimes dominant. On different soil types: clay, stony sand, quartzite, even peat" (de Laubenfels 1988).
Zone 10 (cold hardiness limit between -1°C and +4.4°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).
"Other scale-leaved species of Dacrydium occur in the Antarctic forests of Tasmania, New Zealand, and Chile. Dacrydium novo-guineense is a tropical highland tree while, among the scale-leaved group in Dacrydium, only D. elatum occurs in tropical lowlands" (de Laubenfels 1988).
Gibbs. 1917. Contrib. Phytogeor. Flora Arfak Mts. 78-80.
Last Modified 2012-11-23