152 



The Pines. 



1. Araucaria Cunninghamii (Richmond River Pine). 



2. Callitris (Cypress Pines). 



3. Podocarpus data, (She Pine). 



Araucaria Cunninghamii, Ait. 

 RICHMOND RIVER OR HOOP PINE. 



Botanical name. Araucaria, from Araucanos, the name of one of these 

 Pines (A. imbricata) in Chili; Cunninghamii, after Allan Cunningham, 

 who held the appointment of King's Botanist in Australia, and whose 

 services to Australian botany and geographical exploration are alike 

 immortal. An obelisk to his memory is to be seen in the Sydney Botanic 

 Gardens, of which he was at one time Superintendent. 



Vernacular Names. It is almost universally known in the Sydney market 

 as " Colonial Pine," so we cannot disturb the name now. Another name is 

 "Moreton Bay Pine," because large quantities used to be shipped from 

 southern Queensland (or Moreton Bay, as the settlement was called). In 

 northern New South Wales the timber often goes under the name of " White 

 Pine " or " Richmond River Pine." For the origin of the term " Hoop 

 Pine," often applied to it, see Bark (below). 



Leaves. The leaves are prickly and small, say a quarter to half an inch 

 long. They are crowded in dense spires. 



Flowers. The flowers are usually dioecious that is to say, having the males 

 and females on distinct plants. The male amenta (catkins) are stalkless, 

 cylindrical, very dense, from 2 to 3 inches long, and from 3 to 4 lines in 

 diameter. What a catkin of this particular tree is like may be seen from 

 the drawing. It will be observed that they form the thickened, club-shaped 

 ends of the twigs. A catkin, in botany, is a form of spike in which the 

 flowers are incomplete (to use a botanical expression), wanting either 

 stamens or pistil of course, the latter in the present instance. 



Fruit. This is a cone, and it is somewhat egg-shaped (ovoid), about 3 

 inches long and 2 inches in diameter, containing numerous, closely over- 

 lapping scales. This swollen egg-shaped portion reminds one of a fuller's 

 teazle, and contains the seeds (very much smaller than Bunya Bunya seed, 

 Araucaria Bidwilli) ; this, of course, represents the female portion of the 

 plant. The seeds are flattened, and contained in the scale. The appearance 

 of the cone and scale can be readily made out from the drawing. 



Baric. The bark is brown to black, not thick, and has circular horizontal 

 markings. It peels off horizontally in tough, fibrous flakes. Owing, in some 

 measure to the resin it contains, and also to its tough nature, it does not 

 readily decay on exposure. The timber itself is peculiarly liable to decay 

 winder such circumstances, and so it happens when a tree is felled in the 



