Araucaria bidwillii

Araucaria bidwillii, commonly known as the bunya pine is a large evergreen coniferous tree. It is found naturally in south-east Queensland Australia and two small disjunct populations in north eastern Queensland's World Heritage listed Wet Tropics. It is a monoecious tree up to 50 m tall and 150 cm dbh. The crown is pyramidal in younger trees, becoming conspicously dome-shaped in mature trees, the outline of the crown defined by dense tufts of branchlets and foliage at the branch ends. The bark is dark brown to black. Leaves differ between juvenile and mature trees. Those of juvenile trees are glossy, light-green, narrow, 2.5--5 cm long, and stiff with a sharp point. They are arranged in two rows on the branchlets. Leaves of mature trees (leaves produced in the crown and exposed to the sun) are arrayed radially around the branchlet (and often are overlapping), spreading, glossy, dark-green, 0.7-2.8 cm long, lanceolate with numerous, parallel thin veins. Trees begin to bear cones at about 14 years of age. Pollen cones, usually appearing in April and maturing in September or October, are are up to 20 cm long produced on the ends of short lateral branches. Seed cones are produced between December and March about 17 months after pollination. The cones are  30 × 22 cm, weighing up to 10 kg, dark green. Each cone contains 50-100 seeds that are about 2.5 cm long.

This tree planted in 2011, pictured 2015 and 2021

27.00 Location A3 Latitude:  -38.4012850100000  Longitude:  146.051847170000