About An Araucaria

[Kumar]

I had planted an Araucaria columnaris in October 2009, when it was a year old and about a foot high. It had by Jan 2010 put on one 'tier' of healthy growth but the apical bud degenerated thereafter (I say degenerated because it just seemed to wither away cleanly although the rest of the plant was unaffected). This was worrying because my understanding of these sourthern conifers is that with their strong apical dominance, injury to the apical bud could set back growth by ages.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find in April, TWO new apical buds - something I've never thought was possible. Here it is

But instead of a rare two headed araucaria, only one bud has shot up this summer, and oddly enough it's produced a four branched node (shaped like a cross) instead of the usual five -

The other apical bud is still green and fresh though.

[bubba]

Kumar, I see that your Cook Island Pine is a close relative of the Norfolk Island Pine, which are the common variety in this area.It is interesting to note that hurricanes in this area have trimmed their diameter, so they look like poles. For some reason, they do not grow out atleast not fast.

[Kumar]

Kumar, I see that your Cook Island Pine is a close relative of the Norfolk Island Pine, which are the common variety in this area.It is interesting to note that hurricanes in this area have trimmed their diameter, so they look like poles. For some reason, they do not grow out atleast not fast.

I've seen plenty of A.columnaris in Bangalore (thats 1500 km further south, at 12 deg N). Most of the old specimens there (more than 40 feet) display extensive foliage loss in the bottom 1/3 of the trunk - this seems to be programmed into them.

[bubba]

Kumar, This is what I am talking about when I describe Norfolk Pines trimmed by hurricanes. This one was trimmed by Wilma in 2005:

[PalmsZA]

Hi all

Here is mine-was thinking about giving it the chop but a mate managed to change my mind and stay the execution. Lord Howe?

[Kumar]

Why would you want to chop such a splendid fellow ? He must be at least 20 years old!

[PalmsZA]

Why would you want to chop such a splendid fellow ? He must be at least 20 years old!

Hi Kumar

I wanted to chop it because it is a very water hungry tree, it has turned the area around it into a dust-bowl.

[Kumar]

Really? I thought it was your native eucalyptus that was water hungry! You're very fortunate - from the photo it appears that your specimen has grown very straight. Usually these chaps tend to have an 'S' shaped profile that mars an otherwise perfect look.

[PalmsZA]

No native Eucs here I am afraid Kumar. They have become pests though.

Yes its a double headed monster and very staright.

[Kumar]

Today I saw this new bud with a hexagonal pattern, one more than the usual. The one immediately below this has four arms. The recent pattern is thus 6,4,5,4,5,5,5.

Edited July 23, 2011 by Kumar

[The Silent Seed]

Very interesting, thank you for sharing, Kumar!

I have ONE Norfolk Island Pine (How can you tell the difference between this, and the

columnaris?) I also have araucana - they are among my favorite plants. Don't ask me why,

they just are. Water hungry? Never knew that!

[fastfeat]

The number of horizontal branches in a whorl can vary, especially in young trees and ones where the tip has been damaged/removed. Eventually, they tend to even out to a more regular pattern.

All trees pictured here are A. columnaris.

[Geoff]

Ditto... as seedlings they looks similar, but even as small as about 5' or so they start to look VERY different. Araucaria columnaris comprise about 98% of all Norfolk Island Pines sold in the US today... and they are NOT Norfolk Island Pines... A heterophyllas are not unheard of, but they are pretty rare in comparison.

As these two age, A c tends to lean, while A h almost never does. A c has closely space branches that tend to form a narrow, columnar to triangular shape with age. A h develops a strikingly triangular, almost teepee shape and its branches are almost ridiculously far apart. A columanar gets 10-15 feet in diameter, while A heterophylla gets 20-30 feet in diameter. A columnar foliage gets sort of floppy looking at the ends, particularly with age and many of the branchlets grow laterally or even hand down. A heterophylla foliage all points straight up to the sky. The latter is a much more striking and ornamental tree and dwarfs the former. Below are 4 A columnaris photos and then 3 A heterophylla photos (in the next discussion box, since this site won't let me upload more than 4 photos).

I hope that clears things up a bit...

[Geoff]

And here are the three photos of A heterophylla, one of a young plant (but nearly 3-4x the diameter of an A columnaris the same age), one of a plant down the street from me (a rare find) and one of a mature plant at the Huntington Gardens

NOW I hope that makes things a bit clearer...

[fastfeat]

From the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove:

A. heterophylla (Left) versus (Right) A. columnaris:

A. heterophylla growing just above PCH in Malibu, nearly arrow-straight, despite near-constant unidirectional wind: