Kauri, Kauri Pine, Dundathu Pine Agathis robusta

Agathis robusta, one of three species of Australian Kauri, is a tall, handsome tree that can grow to 40 metres tall in rainforests of eastern Queensland. Kauri Pines grow in two main locations, one in southern Queensland, from Tewantin to Maryborough and including Fraser Island, and a second, northern population on the Atherton Tablelands. Close relations include Norfolk Island, Hoop, Bunya Bunya, Monkey Puzzle and Wollemi Pines.

Agathis belongs in the Araucariaceae, an ancient family, widely distributed in both hemispheres in the Jurassic and Cretaceous. At the end of the Cretaceous, and, coincidentally, at the time of extinction of the dinosaurs, Araucariaceae were wiped out in the northern hemisphere, only surviving in the southern hemisphere.

Conifers, such as the Kauri Pine are commonly referred to as gymnosperms. In the 1980s, one system of classification placed Kauri Pines (Agathis species) in the Order Coniferales of the Class Gymnospermae in the Division Tracheophyta1. We can still use the terms gymnosperm and conifer, but molecular biology has provided tools to enable us to better understand relationships between organisms. So the Kauri Pine, (and all three genera, Agathis, Araucaria and Wollemia) within the Araucariaceae, are now included in the Division Pinophyta of the Plant Kingdom2.

Kauri timber is highly prized for cabinet making, wood turning, flooring, furniture, even for making violins. The logs can be massive and in order to transport them from the Atherton Tablelands to Cairns by rail, a limit of 22 feet (6.7 m) was set as the maximum size of the logs so that they could fit through rail tunnels on the Kuranda Range3. This photograph, from about 1905, shows logs, probably Kauri, hauled by bullock teams in the Eudlo District on the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast, SE Queensland (Wikimedia Commons).

1 Bell, P & Woodcock, C. 1983. The Diversity of Green Plants. Edward Arnold, London, UK. 2 Phyllogenetic diagram from: A. Farjon and C. J. Quinn & R. A. Price in the Proceedings of the Fourth International Conifer Conference, Acta Horticulturae 615 (2003) 3Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants: http://keys.trin.org.au/key-server/data/0e0f0504-0103-430d-8004-060d07080d04/media/Html/taxon/Agathis_robusta.htm Map modified from Australia’s Virtual Herbarium: http://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?taxa=Agathis+robusta#tab_mapView

Kevin Downing, Brian Atwell & Alison Downing Department of Biological Sciences, July 2013

Kauri Pines (Agathis robusta), Castle Hill Road, Rogans Hill.