Bunya Pine

Description:

The Bunya Pine is a large evergreen coniferous tree in the plant family Araucariaceae. Bunya's grow to a height of 30–45 metres, with a straight, rough-barked trunk and a very distinctive, symmetrical, dome-shaped crown. It has sharply pointed, lance-shaped leaves, and the cones which contain the edible kernels, are the size of footballs... and can weigh up to 10kg. The tree was colloquially named the Bunya Pine by Europeans. However, Araucaria bidwillii is not a pine tree (of the genus Pinus). It belongs to the same genus as the monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana) and is commonly referred to as the "false monkey puzzle". Bunya Pines live for about 500 years.

Habitat:

Native in Queensland. A. bidwillii has a limited distribution within Australia in part because of the drying out of Australia with loss of rainforest and poor seed dispersal. At the start of European occupation, A. bidwillii occurred in great abundance in southern Queensland, to the extent that a Bunya Bunya Reserve was declared in 1840 to protect its habitat. The tree once grew as large groves or sprinkled regularly as an emergent species throughout other forest types on the Upper Stanley and Brisbane Rivers, Sunshine Coast hinterland (especially the Blackall Range near Montville and Maleny), and also towards and on the Bunya Mountains. Today, the species is usually encountered as very small groves or single trees in its former range, except on and near the Bunya Mountains, where it is still fairly prolific.

Notes:

The larger of the two trees in these photos is very old and is probably close to reaching its maximum height, and most likely was here before the inner-city Brisbane suburb of Fairfield was even contemplated. What is now the Brisbane Corso, Leyshon and Goodwin Parks, and the cricket fields, was once lakes and marshes - quite evident because it's all 'low-lying' land and is subject to flooding - an ideal Bunya environment - all lost in the name of 'progress'. The hard leaves of these trees are very sharp, even more so when they have fallen to the ground and dried. Two things I have learned about Bunya Pines over the years: (1) Always rake up the dried leaves before mowing the lawn because the lawn mower will inevitably come off 'second best', and (2) Never park your car under a Bunya Pine. Should a massive cone fall, an insurance claim is sure to follow. To see the size of the Bunya cone, click on the 2nd reference tab to the right (Bunya Pine begins dropping lethal, 10kg cones the size of watermelons). Bunya Pines are beautiful trees that have attitude. I like that!