All photos shown here are of material from the Bolovens Plateau. Photos taken and samples collected: December/January 1997 by Daniel McKone, with the assistance of Mr. Thanongsi Solangkoune, Mr. Joost Foppes, and the residents of Ban Taot. Special thanks to Mr. Sounthone Ketphanh, National Project Coordinator-NTFP Project, for allowing me the use of his project vehicle.
The D. imbricatus shown here is common (and hopefully remains so!) in this Mixed Broadleaf and Coniferous forest* (or what Vidal calls "Foret Dense a Feuillus et Podocarpus"**). Other trees in this forest include species from the genera Castanopsis and Quercus.
This forest is located east of Paksong, just east of Ban Taot on the Bolovens Plateau (106º32' E, 15º05' N). It is found on both sides of the Pakse-Paksong-Houay Ho Road, at approximately 800 m elevation. The basaltic Bolovens Plateau is located in southern Laos, east of the city of Pakse.
*From classification system used in NOFIP/LSFP. 1992. Forest Cover and Land Use in Lao PDR-Final Report on the Nation-wide Reconnaissance Survey. Report No. 5. Vientiane.
**Vidal, Jules. 1960. La Vegetation du Laos, 2me partie: Groupements Vegetaux et Flore. Travaux du Laboratoire Forestier, Toulouse.
Photos and information found below:
Dacrycarpus imbricatus tree (height is 25 m +)
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D. imbricatus tree (height is 20 m +)
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Bark of mature D. imbricatus trees (on lower part of bole)
Leaves on the left are more or less typical 'mature' leaves, those on the right, the more or less typical 'juvenile' form.
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D. imbricatus seeds with arils
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(notice that the leaves are the 'juvenile' form)
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A description of Dacrycarpus (including Dacrycarpus imbricatus):
From: De Laubenfels, David J. 1969. "A Revision of the Malesian and Pacific Rainforest Conifers, I. Podocarpaceae, in part". Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 50(3): 315-369.
"The distinguishing character of Dacrycarpus is the union of the bract with the seed and seed scale on one side, forming a projecting crest particularly noticeable on immature fruit. As in most of the family, the seed is inverse and Dacrycarpus resembles Podocarpus, of which it has long been treated as a section, because of the union of the fertile scale with the seed and its distinct receptacle. In addition to the fusion of the fertile bract with the corresponding scale and seed, however, is the fact that the cone is produced terminally on leafy branches and not on specialized shoots or peduncles. The leaves of Dacrycarpus also differ markedly from Podocarpus and resemble those of Dacrydium, being sometimes difficult to distinguish in the sterile form. There are, in addition, New Zealand species of Dacrydium in which the seed is covered by the scale and remains inverted. A fleshy development upon maturity of the structure below the seed is normal in Dacrydium. In short, Dacrycarpus is as closely related to Podocarpus while the union of the bract with the seed sets it apart from either of them. The wartyness of the receptacle is unusual, a character shared only with Acmopyle. In the juvenile form Dacrycarpus is interesting in that the leaves are distinctly flattened, often spread out distichously, yet this character is usually lost in the mature form. Elsewhere among the conifers only in Falcatifolium and Acmopyle are bilaterally flattened leaves found but without change in the adult form. Where the foliage leaves are bilaterally flattened or acicular, sterile specimens of Dacrycarpus can be identified by the sharp dimorphic leaves because of the penultimate branches always have bifacially flattened leaves or scales."
"Dacrycarpus is composed of nine species ranging from Burma to New Zealand."
Dacrycarpus imbricatus (Blume) de Laubenfels, comb. nov.
"Tree up to at least 30 m. tall; bark dark brown or blackish on the surface, weathering gray, inside a rich red-brown and granular (slightly fibrous), breaking off in small thick scales with a rough surface; juvenile leaves bilaterally and distichous, nearly linear, curving outward from the base and upward at the tip, narrowing rapidly to a fine mucro, 10-17 mm long and 1.2-2.2 mm wide, shorter toward the branch tip and base, the first leaves at the branch base short and acicular, the whole foliage branch of limited of limited growth; leaves on seedlings and on penultimate branches quite distinct, bifacially flattened, lanceolate, mucronate, imbricate, decurrent, 2-4 mm. long and 0.7-1.0 mm. wide; terminal shoots on young plants sometimes very long, whip-like, up to 20 cm.; on older plants more compact, the foliage leaves becoming progressively smaller, fertile specimens sometimes having distichous and bilaterally flattened leaves 3-5 mm. long and 0.6-0.8 mm. wide; foliage leaves in older trees eventually becoming short and needle-like or more or less scale-like, about 1-1.8 mm. long, strongly keeled and acute but neither flattened nor distichous; pollen cones lateral or rarely terminal, subtended by a few scale leaves on a branchlet 1-3 mm. long, oval but elongating with the shedding of the pollen, to 6-12 mm. long and 2-2.5 mm. in diam. (about 5 mm. long before elongating); microsporophyll triangular acute to apiculate; seed cone terminal, often on a short lateral branch bearing scales which become elongated just below the receptacle, forming an involucre, the involucral leaves spreading and generally less than 4 mm. long, acicular and sharply pointed; seed cone a short, warty, glaucous receptacle 3-4 mm. long, formed of enlarged bract bases, the tips of one or two bracts (resembling the involucral leaves) projecting from the receptacle, one or two terminal bracts fertile, the whole receptacle becoming red upon maturity; mature seeds globose, slightly ribbed on the back with a blunt crest, 4-6 mm. in diam., 5-6 mm. long."
"The short acicular or scale leaves and the lateral more or less oval pollen cone distinguish this widespread species from the members of the genus. Longer leaves occur on fertile specimens but, if present, are less than 5 mm. long and very robust" or can be distichous.