The Queensland Naturalist. 
Jan,, 1921 
II4 
THE HOOP PINE AND ITS ALLIES. 
By W. 1). Francis, Assistant Government Botanist. 
The largest conifers in Queensland, and probably in 
Australia, are the Queensland kauri pines. Of these there 
are two species in the northern scrubs {Agathis Palmer- 
stoni and Agathis microstachga) ^ and one (Agathis Moorei)^ 
now almost extinct, in the scrubs between Eumundi and 
Maryborough in the south. They are grand, symmetrical 
trees, attaining a height of about 150 feet, with almost 
cylindrical, column-like barrels attaining a diameter of 
8 or 9 feet. 
The hoop pine and the bunya pine, though scarcely 
so gigantic and imposing, are even more graceful and 
symmetrical in habit than the kauris. The largest hoop 
pines I have seen attained a barrel diameter of at least 
5 feet 4 inches, and an estimated height of aboiit 160 feet; 
but trees of these dimensions are not very common, at 
least in Southern Queensland. 
I would like to mention a tree figured and described in 
the ‘'Australian Forestry JournaF’ for August, 1920, under 
the heading “A Kecord Hoop Pine,'' whose barrel measured 
14 feet 4 inches in girth (4 feet 7 inches diameter), and 
which stood 86 feet from the ground to the first limbs and 
was felled in the Grafton district of New South Wales. 
The large Queensland specimens I have referred to are 
considerably larger than the Grafton district tree. The 
accompanying photograph shows the lower part of the 
barrel of a tree growing in the ranges near Emu Vale, 
in the Killarney district. It measured 16 feet 9 inches in 
girth 4 feet 6 inches above the ground. The bark is 
generally very thick; it measured 2^ inches on the tree in 
our picture. 
The ])otanical name of the hoop pine, Amucaria 
Cinniinghamii is derived from “ Araueanos, ’ ' the native 
name for Amucaria imhricata, which is indigenous to Chili ; 
the latter part of the name commemorates Allan Cunning- 
ham. botanist and explorer. The pattern of the bark, with 
its more or less distinct transverse, hoop-like markings, 
probably accounts for the origin of the common name. 
The most important product of the hoop pine is its 
timber. It is by far the most extensively used of all 
Australian softwoods, and is the common timber for general 
indoor building purposes, such as lining and doormaking, 
