Araucariaceae

Araucaria cunninghamii var. cunninghamii

HOOP PINE

Large to very large tree to 50 m high, with a distinctive crown shape; trunk columnar; bark dark greyish brown, rough, scaly with narrow horizontal scales. Buds and stems hairless, green; stipules absent.

Leaves simple, alternate; lamina scale-like, lanceolate, curved, 4–12 mm long, 1.5–3 mm wide, apex pointed, green, stiff, apparently veinless; leaves closely crowded and overlapping along the branchlets; juvenile leaves longer and straighter than adult leaves, 10–20 mm long, spinose; apparently veinless or 1-veined with only midvein apparent; petiole indistinct.

Male and female cones on the same plant, terminal on lateral branchlets, flowers absent; male cones cylindrical, 5–8 cm long.

Fruiting cones globose to ovoid, up to 12 cm long, cone scales ending in recurved spines; seeds 2–2.5 cm long, flattened, not winged, embedded and shed in cone scales when cone breaks up.

Illustration of leaves & fruit

Habitat and Distribution:

In STRf, WTRf, CTRf, DRf, LRf  and sometimes in Swamp Rf, but often on the poorer or rocky soils or after previous major disturbance; occurs as a common emergent tree in DRf; north from the Macleay River, N.S.W., to northern Cape York Peninsula.

Notes:

Cultivated for its timber.

Only the type variety grows in Australia.

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