Araucaria cunninghamii-Hoop Pine

[Eric in Orlando]

Check out Araucaria cunninghamii, Hoop-Pine from eastern Australia. The shiny tan bark exfoliates several times a year revealing a shiny, metallic, copper-burgundy trunk. It is quite striking.

[junglegalfla]

Wow! That is really very cool looking! Does it do that year round? I'd plant more pines if they looked like that!

[fastfeat]

Eric--

Very nice! Didn't really expect to see this species in FL with the humidity. They are relatively uncommon, though they grow well, in So Cal.

Do you have any Agathis spp. there at Leu?

[Eric in Orlando]

we have 2 or the A. cunninghamii and they grown well. We are growing Agathis robusta. I have seen both of these at Selby Gardens and there is an Agathis robusta at Fairchild. I have tried Agathis australis a few times but it doesn't like our summers. It is a New Zealand native.

One NZ conifer that suprisingly grows here is Dacrycarpus dacrydioides. It is unusual as it has greenish bronze colored foliage. In habitat it is a swamp tree even growing in shallow water, like our native Taxodium. It is in the Podocarpus Family and bears an edible fruit-like receptacle.

[chris.oz]

(fastfeat @ Oct. 12 2007,19:56)

QUOTE

Eric--

Very nice! Didn't really expect to see this species in FL with the humidity. They are relatively uncommon, though they grow well, in So Cal.

Do you have any Agathis spp. there at Leu?

Quite the contrary,  these trees are native to coastal locations in Eastern Australia in high humidity,  growing amongst rocks on the sea shore.

However,  the coast at that point is protected by the barrier reef .  This is a tropical -sub tropical tree.

They are related to pines,  but they would be more pasrticularly described as conifers.

[Matthew92]

Does anyone know the real cold hardiness of Araucaria cunninghamii? There's actually not much info on the web except for a few statements like "mildy frost tolerant" or along those lines. I think Dave's Garden listed it as 9a although I really want to see if this can get by in zn 8b. I do know that Araucaria angustifolia (Parana pine/Brazilian Monkey Puzzle) will grow here, but I'm more looking for an exact Norfolk Island pine look alike in this zone (quick growth, impressive height, and conical).

[Eric in Orlando]

I am not sure but my guess is that they are similar in hardiness to the common Araucaria columnaris, Hoop-Pine (This is the tree that has been incorrectly called the Norfolk Island-Pine in Florida, A. heterophylla).

Below about 24F would probably severely damage it and much lower would kill it

[Matthew92]

I am not sure but my guess is that they are similar in hardiness to the common Araucaria columnaris, Hoop-Pine (This is the tree that has been incorrectly called the Norfolk Island-Pine in Florida, A. heterophylla).

Below about 24F would probably severely damage it and much lower would kill it

What made me interested is I saw that someone else on here has a mature one in his Jacksonville zn 9a yard. See here the picture is just a few posts from the top.

Edited July 8, 2015 by Opal92

[Eric in Orlando]

Check with Ed, see what temps that tree has taken. They have survived here down to 28F with no problems.

[Pip]

It certainly is am interesting tree. The common name comes about due to the shedding barck. Unfortunately I don't have a picture but the ground below one of these trees will be littered with bark hoops.

[edric]

Now that's really cool Eric, esp. for a fairly cold hardy specimen, and about the cold hardiness of the common Australian pine we have here, it has seen three nights, three or four hours straight 25 F. Is that Araucaria cunninghamii conical, or pretty much like the one we have here, shape wise? thanks Eric, Ed

[Eric in Orlando]

It is symmetrical like most Araucaria except as it gets older the foilage is more open and tends to grow more at the tips of the branches.

[Pip]

Don't forget just how tall Araucaria cunninghamii can grow. In summer rainfall climates expect heights up to 60 meters which makes them unsuitable for many house blocks. Prolonged drought can ruin the plants symmetry from either dropping limbs or even the main leader.

[Tropicgardener]

If I could work out how to post photos here I could post some of our local Hoop Pines............ The local 'Whitsunday form' has glaucous foliage instead of straight green foliage that you see further south. It's form appears to be a little different too but this may be due to the battering that they receive from tropical cyclones. The rainforest on the coastal Whitsunday Islands is dominated by Hoop Pines and they are a striking feature of the area............ The climate here is Tropical so there is no fear of them suffering in Florida's sub-tropical heat.

[Geoff]

Took a few shots of the local trees here in So Cal last week at the Huntington… tall one far away is about 80' tall.

[edbrown_III]

thiis is the tree in the front yard maybe40 feet tall the one in the back yard is about 60 feet they have taken pretty hard freezesdown to 19F or so . The Cryptermeria japonica is very Norfolk like pine like also

[Eric in Orlando]

Good to see they seem hardier than the common Araucaria columnaris, Hoop-Pine.

[Eric in Orlando]

If I could work out how to post photos here I could post some of our local Hoop Pines............ The local 'Whitsunday form' has glaucous foliage instead of straight green foliage that you see further south. It's form appears to be a little different too but this may be due to the battering that they receive from tropical cyclones. The rainforest on the coastal Whitsunday Islands is dominated by Hoop Pines and they are a striking feature of the area............ The climate here is Tropical so there is no fear of them suffering in Florida's sub-tropical heat.

We have 2 green forms and 2 of the glaucous form. So far the glaucous form is still green, not much coloring in them. They are around 7ft tall.

[Eric in Orlando]

Don't forget just how tall Araucaria cunninghamii can grow. In summer rainfall climates expect heights up to 60 meters which makes them unsuitable for many house blocks. Prolonged drought can ruin the plants symmetry from either dropping limbs or even the main leader.

In central and southern FL, 60m tall trees are lightning rods!

[Matthew92]

thiis is the tree in the front yard maybe40 feet tall the one in the back yard is about 60 feet they have taken pretty hard freezesdown to 19F or so . The Cryptermeria japonica is very Norfolk like pine like also

Nice seeing those pictures! thanks.

[Matthew92]

On 10/13/2007, 9:54:39, Eric in Orlando said:

we have 2 or the A. cunninghamii and they grown well. We are growing Agathis robusta. I have seen both of these at Selby Gardens and there is an Agathis robusta at Fairchild. I have tried Agathis australis a few times but it doesn't like our summers. It is a New Zealand native.

 

One NZ conifer that suprisingly grows here is Dacrycarpus dacrydioides. It is unusual as it has greenish bronze colored foliage. In habitat it is a swamp tree even growing in shallow water, like our native Taxodium. It is in the Podocarpus Family and bears an edible fruit-like receptacle.

 

Would you possibly have an idea of the exact cold hardiness of Agathis robusta?

[Eric in Orlando]

My guess is mid to maybe low 20sF.

[Matthew92]

3 hours ago, Eric in Orlando said:

My guess is mid to maybe low 20sF.

Hmm okay. I'm hoping it's much more cold hardy than we think, as I'm looking for some more tall, fast-growing and high profile evergreen trees for my area. 

Check out what I found from the San Marcos Growers website page on Agathis robusta: listed as winter hardy to 15-20 deg with the following comment:

"It is noted as hardy to Sunset Zone 15 by Elizabeth McClintock in her "Trees of Golden Gate Park" and our tree was not damaged in the freeze of 1990 when temperatures dipped to 18° F."

[Eric in Orlando]

It is native to Papau New Guinea an 3 locales in Queensland Australia. The furtherest south is at about 25 deg. south so fairly tropical habitat.

I'm just guessing as our trees haven't seen below 27F. But Agathis robusta were planted in Florida many decades ago and I have never seen any in central FL  so I don't know if the severe freezes in the 1980s wiped them out or what. Even the normally "hardy" Araucaria bidwillii was damaged in the 1989 freeze around Orlando and the common Araucaria columnaris (misidentified as A. heteropylla) was killed. 15-20-deg. F in a drier climate like CA is much different that 15-20F in a humid FL climate. It would be worth a try to grow one up there and test it.

[Matthew92]

3 hours ago, Eric in Orlando said:

It is native to Papau New Guinea an 3 locales in Queensland Australia. The furtherest south is at about 25 deg. south so fairly tropical habitat.

I'm just guessing as our trees haven't seen below 27F. But Agathis robusta were planted in Florida many decades ago and I have never seen any in central FL  so I don't know if the severe freezes in the 1980s wiped them out or what. Even the normally "hardy" Araucaria bidwillii was damaged in the 1989 freeze around Orlando and the common Araucaria columnaris (misidentified as A. heteropylla) was killed. 15-20-deg. F in a drier climate like CA is much different that 15-20F in a humid FL climate. It would be worth a try to grow one up there and test it.

Yeah I was thinking that might be a factor too. Although through more research I found that this site lists it as hardy to zones 8-11.

[Tropicgardener]

10 hours ago, Opal92 said:

Yeah I was thinking that might be a factor too. Although through more research I found that this site lists it as hardy to zones 8-11.

 

 

14 hours ago, Eric in Orlando said:

It is native to Papau New Guinea an 3 locales in Queensland Australia. The furtherest south is at about 25 deg. south so fairly tropical habitat.

I'm just guessing as our trees haven't seen below 27F. But Agathis robusta were planted in Florida many decades ago and I have never seen any in central FL  so I don't know if the severe freezes in the 1980s wiped them out or what. Even the normally "hardy" Araucaria bidwillii was damaged in the 1989 freeze around Orlando and the common Araucaria columnaris (misidentified as A. heteropylla) was killed. 15-20-deg. F in a drier climate like CA is much different that 15-20F in a humid FL climate. It would be worth a try to grow one up there and test it.

Here are Hoop Pines in habitat on Daydream Island here in my neck of the woods.......... Whitsunday region. The form that occurs here is the 'glaucous' form. The climate here is tropical and they are emergent in the rainforests that cover most of the 74 islands of the Whitsunday group.............. They don't just occur in 3 locales in Queensland, they are extremely widespread in their distribution right along the Queensland coast and occur well south of 25 degrees south (Bundaberg). They occur well over the state border into New South Wales........... probably around 500 to 600km south of 25S (Bundaberg). The southern forms are generally green. The glaucous forms may be an adaptation to handle salt laden winds to which they are buffeted with here along with tropical cyclones.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Tropicgardener

[Tropicgardener]

More Araucaria cunninghamii, Hoop Pines growing on Daydream Island in the Whitsunday Island group............. You can see that these ones are generally not very symmetrical. These are quite old specimens and have copped a battering from severe tropical cyclones over a number of decades including up to Category 5 cyclones.

[Josh-O]

very cool looking tree

[Eric in Orlando]

I was referring to Agathis robusta only being native to 3 locations in Queensland and in Papau New Guinea. On the other hand Araucaria cunninghamiana is native to a wider region in Queensland and New South Wales in Australia and also in Papau New Guinea.

 

That is neat to see them in habitat. We have a couple of trees grown from seeds of the glaucous form but they are just dark green.

[edbrown_III]

Here's a few trunk shots    my wife Nette shows the size of the  trunk --- I took these just recently but they have this lovely copper skin just before the shedding

 

Tree has survived 19 or 20 F and the tree seems to not have root or fungus problems that retard growth

 

Best wishes

 

Ed