English Lao
Botanical descriptions Habitat and ecology Distribution
| Diagnostic characters : | Conifer with resinous exudates. Leaves heteromorphic: young trees linear and needle-like, older and fertile branches scale shaped. Seeds ovoid with a red aril-like (epimatia). |
| Habit : | Large evergreen tree, up to 12 m. tall, about 30 cm. in DBH. Upright single stemmed tree. |
| Trunk & bark : | Trunk straight, cylindrical, branchless up to 20-25 m. tall; bark smooth to scaly, somewhat dippled lenticellate, brown and rugose, inner bark light red with brownish resin, sapwood cream-coloured. |
| Branches and branchlets or twigs : | Branches spreading and the lower branches drooping. Fruiting branches slightly quadrangular. |
| Exudates : | Reddish-orange resin, aromatic. |
| Leaves : | Leaves simple and alternate. Two types of leaves are present: those on young tree or young branches are penniformly arrangement, linear and needle-like, 1-2 x 0.1 cm., glandular on both sides, blade glabrous, margin entire; apex acute; base acute. Leaves on the old tree or on the fruiting branches are small and scale-shaped about 0.2 -0.3 cm. long, alternate or verticillate, acute at the apex. |
| Inflorescences or flowers : | The female cone red smooth and ovoid, solitary or grouping in 2 at the terminal parts of twigs, but only one fertile. The male cone axillary, about 1 cm. long. |
| Fruits : | Cone, green when young. |
| Seeds : | Seed few, ovoid, about 0.5 cm. in diameter, red with aril-like structure (epimatia) when mature. |