Greek halo- halo, carpos - fruit; referring to the white collar at the base of the fruit, the most striking feature of the genus.
Evergreen trees. Juvenile leaves long, linear, spreading, midrib prominent. Adult leaves broad, more or less rhomboidal to triangular with a ridge below, scale-like and pressed close to the stem. Sexes on separate plants. Male cones small, one or few together as terminal brown extensions to the stems. Female cones small, solitary of several leafy bracts a few of which are fertile.
3 species from New Zealand.
Cuttings.
Differs from Dacrydium in having the seed upside-down (not erect) at maturity, the fertile scales do not become fleshy or swollen but the seed may have a fleshy halo-like collar (epimatium) though it is not fused to this; the juvenile foliage is of flat, spreading linear leaves.
Quinn (1982).
Source: (1995). Podocarpaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 1, Ferns, conifers & their allies. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
