- Botanical Name
- Dacrydium cupressinum
Rimu
Details
Dacrydium cupressinum, known as rimu, is a conifer in the family Podocarpaceae, native to New Zealand, and the country's most common native conifer, found across the North, South and Stewart Islands. It lives 600 to 800 years and sometimes 1,200. Its former name among European settlers was red pine, for the deep red of its sap and wood. In Māori culture it is of great importance. The fruit was a significant food, the Ngāpuhi used the timber for canoes, and long war spears and hunting spears were made from it. Medicinally, the gum was a styptic for bleeding wounds, a decoction of the bark treated wounds, the crushed inner bark was a pulp for burns, and the leaves treated sores. In 1773 James Cook brewed spruce beer from its young branch tips to prevent scurvy. Rimu was once New Zealand's most harvested timber and is now protected from logging under the Forests Act 1949, as amended in 1993.
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Correspondences
- Elements
- No elements recorded.
- Celestial Bodies
- No celestial bodies recorded.
- Zodiac Signs
- No zodiac signs recorded.
- Colours
- No colours recorded.
- Deities
- No deities recorded.
Folk Names
- Red Pine
Categories
No categories recorded.
Substitutes
No substitutes recorded.
Forms
Bark
A decoction of the bark treated wounds, and the crushed inner bark was applied as a pulp to burns.
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Fruit
The abundant fruit was a significant food for Māori.
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Leaf
The leaves were used to treat sores.
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Resin
The gum, or sap, was used as a styptic to stop bleeding from wounds.
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Wood
A durable, resilient timber, once used for flooring, furniture and canoes, and for spears by Māori.
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