A small tree 5-10 m tall, or shrub. Branches thick. Branchlets four-sided, appearing square in section. Juvenile leaves spreading, linear c. 1-2 cm long with a short, twisted stalk. Adult leaves scale-like, closely pressed to the stem, blunt, thick, ridged c. 1-2 mm long. Male cones solitary, terminal c. 4 mm long. Seed solitary, rarely in pairs. Syn. Dacrydium biforme (Hook.) Pilg.)
Rare in cultivation but occasionally offered in the nursery trade as a botanical novelty.
New Zealand. Occurs naturally in montane and subalpine forest and scrub.
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.
