Scientific name: Agathis robusta (C.Moore ex F.J.Mueller) F.M.Bailey 1883

Synonyms: Agathis palmerstonii (F.Muell.) F.M.Bailey, Dammara bidwillii Guilfoyle, Dammara palmerstonii F.Muell., Dammara robusta C.Moore ex F.Muell.

Common names: Queensland kauri pine, Smooth-barked kauri

Description

Tree to 40(-60) m tall, with smoothly cylindrical, unbuttressed or basally flared trunk to 1.5(-2.5) m in diameter. Bark smooth and orange-brown to brown at first, weathering grayish brown to gray and flaking continuously in small, closely spaced scales to produce fine mottling with age. Crown dense to open, broadly dome- to broadly vase-shaped, with a few, widely spreading, upwardly angled to nearly horizontal, sometimes contorted, heavy limbs at the summit of the unbranched trunk and bearing open, upwardly angled or horizontal tufts of branchlets. Branchlets green from the beginning, moderately densely clothed with foliage. Leaves shiny bright to dark green above, a little paler beneath, (3-)7-10 cm long (to 13 cm in juveniles), (1-)2-3 cm wide (to 4.5 cm in juveniles), widest near or a little before the middle, tapering smoothly or gradually and then more abruptly to the sharply to bluntly triangular tip and a little more abruptly to the roundly wedge-shaped base on a short petiole (1-)3-10 mm long. Pollen cones 4-9(-11) cm long, 7-14 mm thick, with (three or) four to seven pairs of larger, loosely clasping, sterile scales at the base on a stalk 2-9 mm long. Each pollen scale with two to eight pollen sacs and an irregularly rounded external face. Seed cones not waxy at maturity, plump but noticeably longer than wide, 8.5-15 cm long, 6.5-10.5 cm thick. seed scales without a large tonguelike projection. Seed body 10-15 mm long and 6-7 mm wide, the larger wing 24-26 mm by 10-16 mm, the smaller one sharply triangular, projecting about 3-4 mm.

Scattered in discontinuous regions along the coast of Queensland (Australia), on New Britain and in eastern New Guinea (Paua New Guinea). Scattered as an emergent over various types of lowland and montane rain forest or forming closed canopy stands at drier rain-forest margins on a variety of substrates but with best development on soils derived from granite; 0-2,000 m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern

(Agathis robusta has an estimated extent of occurrence (EOO) considerably more than 20,000 km². Although the estimated area of occupancy (AOO) is less than 500 km², there is no evidence of “net decline” (i.e. a decline somewhere that is greater than an increase elsewhere). This species does not meet the criteria for a threatened category and is listed as Least Concern. The subspecies in Papua New Guinea has been assessed as Vulnerable)

References

Farjon, A. (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.

Eckenwalder, J.E. (2009) Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press, Portland.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Cambridge, UK /Gland, Switzerland