Queensland Araucaria
| Queensland Araucaria | ||||||||||||
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Queensland Araucaria ( Araucaria bidwillii ), specimen over 100 years old |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Araucaria bidwillii | ||||||||||||
| Hook. , 1843 |
The Bunya Pine ( Araucaria bidwillii ), also Bunya Bunya tree called, is a species of the genus Araucaria ( Araucaria ) in the family of Araucariaceae (Araucariaceae). It is native to eastern Australia .
description
Araucaria bidwillii grows as a tree and reaches heights of up to 35 meters. It can also reach a height of 50 meters and a diameter of 150 centimeters at chest height. The treetop is symmetrical; in young trees it is more pyramidal, in older trees it is dome-shaped. Long branches spread lively from the thick trunk. The dark brown to black bark dissolves in scales up to 2.5 by 7.5 centimeters. The bark of a full-grown tree is usually two to four inches thick and deeply grooved.
There is heterophyllia . The leaves of young trees (possibly an adaptation to the low-light location in the shade of the larger trees) are light green, shiny, narrow and 2.5 to 5 centimeters long; they are rigid and end in a sharp point. These leaves are in two rows on the branches. The leaves of adult trees are radial around the branch and often overlap one another. They are glossy dark green, leathery, and 0.7 to 2.8 inches long. In shape they are broader and lanceolate to triangular-egg-shaped. They have no main veins, but rather many parallel thin leaf veins . The stomata are abaxial .
The Queensland Araucaria is single-sexed ( monoecious ). The trees begin to bear cones around the age of 14. The male cones appear in April and ripen in September to October. They are elongated cylindrical, up to 20 centimeters long and are formed at the ends of short side branches. The female cones start from December to March; they need around 17 months to mature after pollination. The cones are pineapple-shaped and unmistakable because of their enormous size: They are ovoid to almost spherical (i.e. roughly pineapple-shaped) and are around 30 × 22 centimeters in size. The dark green cones weigh up to 8, sometimes up to 10 kg. The cone scales are oblong-elliptical or oblong-egg-shaped; the edge is relatively thick. The tip of the cone scales ends in a triangular shape. The cone contains 50 to 100 large seeds that are about 2.5 inches long and wingless. The seeds are elliptical with an elongated end; they are encased in a thin, pale yellow integument . The seeds are edible.
The seeds need a lot of moisture to germinate. Germination of the seeds sitting in the cone has been observed when it is moist. The germination takes place hypogeous; the seed first produces a root and then transports the nutrients of the seed to a tuber, from which the shoot then drifts upwards. The seed can lie 2 to 24 months before the seedling breaks through the surface of the earth.
Since the seeds are wingless and the intact female cone with its green cover scales normally falls from the tree, the seed distribution seems to be very limited (rolling of the cone downhill, transport by water). It is therefore assumed that mainly (possibly extinct) animal species are intended for seed dispersal. So far, however, no animal is known that specializes in this range of semen. However, some species of rodents have already been observed storing or spreading the seeds.
Distribution and location
The home of this species is in Australia in Queensland . Their natural sites consist roughly of two regions: a large area in the southeast of Queensland and two smaller areas in the far north of the state. In both regions, the species grows in the rainforest and is often associated with the second araucaria species native to the Australian continent, Araucaria cunninghamii . In the region in southeast Queensland there are five main areas of natural occurrence from the 27th to the 26th / 25th. Latitude: the Blackall Range west of Nambour , the upper valley of the Mary River , the mountains on the upper Brisbane River , the Yarraman-Blackbutt area and the Bunya Mountains west of Yarraman . The two natural habitats in northern Queensland are at Mt. Lewis (16.5 degrees latitude) and Cunnabullen Falls (latitude 17.67 degrees).
This species prefers to grow on soils of basaltic origin and in regions with annual rainfall over 1000 mm. The Queensland araucaria tolerates temperatures between −4 and +40 ° C.
The foliage of the northern population is wider and ends in a less sharp point than that of the southern population.
Today, the Queensland Araucaria is also planted as an ornamental tree in other locations in Queensland and New South Wales. Plantings were also carried out in other warm regions of the world, such as the southern USA , New Zealand and China .
Systematics
The first description of this species was in 1843 under the name Araucaria bidwilli by the British botanist William Jackson Hooker in London J. Bot. , 2, p. 503, plates 18-19. The specific epithet was later changed to bidwillii by adding a second vowel "i" . The plant collector John Carne Bidwill (1815-1853), who was probably the first to collect this plant species in 1843, is honored with the specific epithet .
Within the genus of the araucarias ( Araucaria ), the species is placed in the section Bunya , in which it is the only recent representative. However, other fossil species are known from the section, including Araucaria mirabilis from the Jurassic-Cerra-Cuadrado forest in Patagonia . However, there are no known recent fossils from the Cenozoic era that represent the Bunya section .
use
The edible seeds were an important source of food for the Aborigines. In 1842 the tree was protected by a royal decree because of its importance as a source of food:
“It having been represented to the Governor that a district exists to the Northward of Moreton Bay in which a fruit-bearing Tree abounds, called Bunya, or Banya Bunya, and that the Aborigines from considerable distance resort at certain times of the year to this District for the purpose of eating the fruit of the said Tree: - His Excellency is pleased to direct that no Licenses be granted for the occupation of any Lands within the said District in which the Bunya or Banya Bunya Tree is found. And notice is herby given, that the several Crown Commissioners in the New England and Moreton Bay Districts have been instructed to remove any person who may be in the unauthorized occupation of Land whereon the said Bunya or Banya Bunya Trees are to be found His Excellency has Also directed that no Licenses to cut Timber be granted within the said District ”
However, this protection of stocks was repealed by the Queensland Unoccupied Crown Lands Occupation Act 1860 , which started the exploitation of the stocks for timber production. In the 1860s sawmills began to be built and the Bunya Mountains and Blackall Ranges were cleared. The wood was used for boards and floor coverings, among other things.
Today the remaining stocks are protected. Only seeds are still collected at the natural sites.
Forest plantations, albeit of a limited extent, have been established for timber production. The Australian company Cole Clark uses the wood to build guitars in the upper price segment.
Special specimens
A specimen on the Bunya Track in the Bunya Mountains National Park was measured in 2002 with a height of 50 meters and a trunk diameter of 186 centimeters at chest height . In the nearby Little Falls Trail, another specimen was measured 51.5 meters high and 133 centimeters in trunk diameter.
swell
- Christopher J. Earle: Araucaria bidwillii. In: The Gymnosperm Database. March 20, 2011, accessed October 21, 2011 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Araucaria bidwillii in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
- ↑ Entry in ASGAP ( Memento of the original from September 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ^ Cole Clark: Guitar Timbers
Web links
- Araucaria bidwillii in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: Conifer Specialist Group, 2008. Accessed on December 24 of 2008.
- Pictures at dipbot.unict.it .
- Araucaria bidwillii near Floridata . (English)
- Araucaria bidwillii at Conifers.org . (English)