Araucaria cunninghamii

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Common name:        Hoop Pine     

• Other less commonly used names include colonial pine, Queensland pine, Dorrigo pine, Moreton Bay pine and Richmond River pine

• The markings on the bark, which look like hoops, give the tree its common name.

Conservation status:   . . .

Etymology:   

• The scientific name honours the botanist and explorer Allan Cunningham, who collected the first specimens in the 1820s

Cones and seed:                                                  

• 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

Leaves:         

• 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

Stem & branches: 

•  The bark is rough, splits naturally, and peels easily

Roots:         

Habit:        

• The trees can live up to 450 years and grow to a height of 60 m

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Habitat:   

• This tree grows in drier subtropical rainforests

Distribution:                  

•  The species is found in the dry rainforests of NSW and Queensland and in New Guinea

Additional notes:     

• There are two varieties:

  • Araucaria cunninghamii var. cunninghamii – from northeast NSW to east-central Queensland, at 0–1,000 m altitude

  • Araucaria cunninghamii var. papuana – on the mountains of Papua New Guinea, and in Irian Jaya, Indonesia, at 100–2,700 m altitude

• Cultivation and other uses

  • 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

  • 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

  • Aboriginal Australians used the resin as cement

• Pests

  • 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

  • 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

  • Unspecified Microlepidoptera are significant pests of the pine cones of both

• Biological control

  • 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

  •  Although they are less interested in other trees - by many multiples - C. montrouzieri does hunt the same pests in custard apple and citrus plantations