Cook pine (Araucaria columnaris)
Description
Araucaria columnaris is a distinctive narrowly conical tree growing up to 60 metres (200 ft) tall in its native habit. The trees have a slender, spire-like crown.The bark of the Cook pine peels off in thin paper-like sheets or strips and is rough, grey, and resinous.The relatively short, mostly horizontal branches are in whorls around the slender, upright to slightly leaning trunk. The branches are lined with cord-like, horizontal branchlets. The branchlets are covered with small, green, incurved, point-tipped, spirally arranged, overlapping leaves. The young leaves are needle-like, while the broader adult leaves are triangular and scale-like.The female seed cones are scaly, egg-shaped, and 10-15 cm. long by 7-11 cm. wide. The smaller, more numerous male pollen cones are at the tips of the branchlets and are scaly, foxtail-shaped, and 2 inches (5 cm) long.The Cook pine can be confused with the Norfolk Island pine due to their similar appearances.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Coniferophyta
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Class: Pinopsida
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Order: Pinales
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Family: Araucariaceae
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Genus: Araucaria
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