Plants dioec., rarely monoec. Male strobili terminal, rarely axillary, subtended by basal scales; sporophylls densely imbricate, bisporangiate, apiculus prominent. Female branchlets terminal or subapical. Carpidia one to several, free, with solitary ovules. Epimatium affixed to ovule at base only, otherwise free, well-developed, covering the immature inverted ovule, which later erects. Rarely the nutlike seed remains inverted and included in the hardened epimatium, the integument remaining membr., but always free from epimatium. Lvs dimorphic; of juveniles and reversion shoots about linear, of adults small, scalelike. Shrubs or trees. Spp. about 20--Malaysia, New Caledonia, Tasmania, N.Z. One sp. In Chile. The N.Z. spp. are endemic.