Araucaria columnaris
Origin: New Caledonia (via Hawaii)
Improvement status: Wild
Seeds per packet: ~10
BOTANICAL SAMPLE - NOT GERMINATION TESTED
Life cycle: Perennial
New Caledonia pine (also sometimes called Cook Pine or Coral Reef Araucaria) is a gorgeous prehistoric relative of the beloved Monkey Puzzle Tree, also in the Araucariaceae family and Araucaria genus. It is endemic to South Pacific island of New Caledonia, but has been widely planted in warm climates around the world. It can be found in gardens and public landscapes in the Australian states of Queensland and Victoria, as well as northern New Zealand, Southern California, Puerto Rico, Mexico, India, Philippines, Hawaii, southern Brazil, and Singapore. Interestingly, a 2017 study found that plants of this species grown by the equator grow straight to the sky, while plants grown elsewhere have a noticeable tilt to them, with plants in the southern hemisphere tilting northward, and plants in the southern hemisphere tilting southward. Cool, right?
New Caledonia pines are hardy in Zones 10-11, but make excellent houseplants or even bonsai!
Our Hawaii-grown seed comes from the good folks at Sheffield's Seeds in Locke, NY.
GROWING TIPS: Seeds should be kept refrigerated until planting so as not to dry out. Otherwise they require no special treatment and can be planted right away, one to two inches deep in a good potting mix.
NOTE: Photo of trees in the rain is from Christopher Harriott and used here under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Photo of unripe cones on the ground is from Forest & Kim Starr and is shared under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States license. Photo of trees next to the blue waters of New Caledonia itself is from user "my LifeShow" and is also used here under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Others are in the public domain.
