Archontophoenix cunninghamiana

[Walter John]

Travelling back from Stanthorpe today, I stopped at the Cunningham's Gap lookout and memorial. This area has a cool sub tropical rainfroest with bangalows scattered around.

The man behind the palm

The palms in habitat

[bgl]

Wal,

Thanks a lot! I always find it interesting to know a little bit more about people who've had palms named after them.

Happy New Year! Here we still have another 16 hours of 2006!

Bo-Göran

[Patrick]

Thanks for the pic's wal! I love seeing palms in their native habitat- they just seem to "belong". In nature palms just seem to co-exist so nicely with everything. But don't get me wrong, palm yards are great, too!

[Bennz]

Hi Wal,

Is that the Gibraltar Range lookout place, or is my fussy recollection of the geography even more fussy than I remember? The reason I ask is that after visiting the area for the first and only time about 15 years ago, I then read an extract from "Forest Trees of Australia' about some of the Eucs in the area, and the fact that the climate is so cool. Like mean minimum air temps of coldest month down around -2C. If this is true for the bangalow area, then this is the coldest part of their natural range, with the inland influence more than making up for the lower elevation.

Speaking of elevation, I know they occur at 1100m  in Bunya Mountains and Border Ranges, do you know of any higher elevation than this?

[Walter John]

(Bennz @ Jan. 01 2007,05:27)

QUOTE

Hi Wal,

Is that the Gibraltar Range lookout place, or is my fussy recollection of the geography even more fussy than I remember? The reason I ask is that after visiting the area for the first and only time about 15 years ago, I then read an extract from "Forest Trees of Australia' about some of the Eucs in the area, and the fact that the climate is so cool. Like mean minimum air temps of coldest month down around -2C. If this is true for the bangalow area, then this is the coldest part of their natural range, with the inland influence more than making up for the lower elevation.

Speaking of elevation, I know they occur at 1100m  in Bunya Mountains and Border Ranges, do you know of any higher elevation than this?

Hi Ben,

You're correct about the cold weather. Notice that the palms aren't very big.

The range is known as Main Range with Mount Mitchell and Mount Cordeaux on either side of the gap.

I couldn't tell you about the highest areas for bangalows, but this must be one of the highest and furthest inland from sea. I stand to be corrected on that one. Mount Warning and the Bangalow area itself may have the highest area for growing these fabulous palms.

Here's a Linospadix on the walking trail.

[Dave-Vero]

We Floridians need seed from up there.  Beautiful forest.

[Bennz]

Hi Wal,

Seems to me that your site should be at 700m, a good 400m lower than the two sites I mentioned. But GR should be colder due to its Tablelands proximity and distance inland. Bunya Mountains is a long way inland too, but without the cold air mass above it to keep it cold.

I know it snows occaisonally at the highest BR site (1100m).  Funny to see bangalows growing naturally alongside Nothofagus and other cool temperate species.

Interesting that the palms seem small. Narrow diamaters, but is that due to cold, or to lack of moisture, or to competition for sunlight?

[sebastian]

My guess is the narrower trunks is because they are growing for the light, you see it in many areas where they grow naturally, Ive even seen it with mature banggas with super narrow trunks.

Also check out the growth rings nice and wide and pretty much all even perhaps indicating a steady moisture uptake.

[philinsydney]

http://www.ukoasis.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=34949#34949

Some other thoughts on bangalows and Antarctic beeches from UK Oasis

[SubTropicRay]

Great Stuff Wal.  The historical information is priceless.

[Kathy]

Very interesting Wal.  Is that graffiti on there that says "land theft" ?? Curious.

[tanetahi]

Here's a young A. cunninghamiana and a small Linospadix monostachya in the montane Nothofagus moorei forest at approximately 1150 metres altitude on the rim of the McPherson Range escarpment, right on the Queensland / New South Wales border.  I took the photo last Saturday (30th Dec). L. monostachya is very variable in that area. The way the fronds are divided ranges from a few, broad, praemorse leaflets, to numerous fine pointy ones. It's highly consistent on each individual plant so does appear to be under genetic control.

This is a view down into the valley that lies between the McPherson Range and Bald Mountain, to give you an idea of the height of the site at which the above tree grows, and the steepness of the escarpment. The gnarled trees in the foreground are Nothofagus moorei.

This is just a bit of gratuitous palm-porn, a shot I took yesterday afternoon of a grove of A. cunninghamina in a gully on Mount Glorious, a few tens of kilometres west of Brisbane.