Araucaria cunninghamii is a species of Araucaria known as hoop pine. Other less commonly used names include colonial pine, Queensland pine,[3] Dorrigo pine, Moreton Bay pine and Richmond River pine.[1] The scientific name honours the botanist and explorer Allan Cunningham, who collected the first specimens in the 1820s.
Araucaria cunninghamii Temporal range: Miocene – Holocene | |
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Conservation status | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Gymnosperms |
Division: | Pinophyta |
Class: | Pinopsida |
Order: | Pinales |
Family: | Araucariaceae |
Genus: | Araucaria |
Section: | A. sect. Eutacta |
Species: | A. cunninghamii |
Binomial name | |
Araucaria cunninghamii | |
Synonyms[2] | |
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The species is found in the dry rainforests of New South Wales and Queensland and in New Guinea. The trees can live up to 450 years and grow to a height of 60 metres.[4] The bark is rough, splits naturally, and peels easily.[5]
The leaves on young trees are awl-shaped, 1–2 cm long, about 2 mm thick at the base, and scale-like, incurved, 1–2 cm long and 4 mm broad on mature trees. The cones are ovoid, 8–10 cm long and 6–8 cm diameter, and take about 18 months to mature. They disintegrate at maturity to release the nut-like edible seeds.
There are two varieties:
The wood is a high-quality timber that is particularly important to the plywood industry and also used for furniture, veneer, joinery, panelling, particle board, flooring and boats.[6] Most natural stands in Australia and Papua New Guinea have been depleted by logging. It is now mainly found on timber plantations; however, the species continues to thrive in protected areas, including Lamington National Park where at least one walking track is named after it.[7]
Aboriginal Australians used the resin as cement.[8]
The plantations in Queensland have been subject to damage by a native rat species, Rattus tunneyi, which digs to the roots of a semi-mature tree and kills it, the animal was declared a pest for this reason.[9] The vulnerability of A. cunninghamii plantations to pest losses has caused some of them to be replaced by A. hunsteinii which suffers less in plantation.[10] Unspecified Microlepidoptera are significant pests of the pine cones of both.[Gressitt 1982 1]
Cryptolaemus montrouzieri is a coccinellid predator of mealybug and soft scale insect parasites of A. cunninghamii, and has several characteristics that make it a good biocontrol for use in plantations.[11] Although they are less interested in other trees - by many multiples - C. montrouzieri does hunt the same pests in custard apple and citrus plantations.[11]
Taxon identifiers |
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