Rimu grows throughout New Zealand, in the North Island, South Island and Stewart Island/Rakiura. This species is common in lowland and montane forest. Although the largest concentration of trees is now found on the West Coast of the South Island, the biggest trees tend to be in mixed podocarp forest near Taupo.
Rimu is a slow-growing tree, eventually attaining a height of up to 50 m, although most surviving large trees are 20 to 35 m tall. It typically appears as an emergent from mixed broadleaf temperate rainforest, although there are almost pure stands (especially on the west coast of the South Island). There are historical accounts of exceptionally tall trees, 61 m, from dense forest near National Park in the central North Island, now destroyed. Its lifespan is approximately 800 to 900 years.
Māori originally used the resinous heartwood of rimu (called māpara or kāpara) for wooden items such as heru (combs) and fernroot beaters. Historically, rimu and other native trees such as kauri, matai and totara were the main sources of wood for New Zealand, including furniture and house construction. However, many of New Zealand's original stands of rimu have been destroyed, and recent government policies forbid the felling of rimu in public forests, though allowing limited logging on private land. Pinus radiata has now replaced rimu in most industries, although rimu remains popular for the production of high quality wooden furniture. There is also limited recovery of stump and root wood, from trees felled many years before, for use in making bowls and other wood turned objects.
The timber for these pens came from recycled furniture.
