Araucariales

Norfolk island araucaria with super weird crown shape. Has a strange morphological growth habit of really long branches with really tight subordinate branchlets and short bracts / tails. About two thirds up returned to more classic shape ! Cool. It’s interesting how the branches despite being very long do not have much droop, similar to other trees I have seen that seem to have this same morph. Weird! This tree is on Long Bay reserve, Auckland, New Zealand.

Araucaria heterophylla - Norfolk island araucaria (flatter crown) planted right next to Sequoia sempervirens - coast redwood (conical crown), located in Auckland domain, New Zealand. Fun comparison.

Planted on the sir Peter Blake education and recreation centre in Long Bay Auckland New Zealand, these three are in competition for the biggest on Long Bay possibly only outdone by the one at the Vaughan house at the other end of the bay. Looks like the trees are climbed by the scouts! Cool trees very full foliage. One has an outstanding bounty of microstroboli (second photo from top). Cool trees.

Three cliff top Norfolk Araucaria, on various private properties between Long Bay and Wilson’s bay in Auckland New Zealand. Always love how much individual variation these trees have all three have there own things going on morphologically. Interesting to see them cliff side.

Bunya Bunya at Maungakiekie, I have posted about this tree before but posting again because he is so cool. Its the only other tree I know of in Auckland comparable in size to the three in the Pah homestead and this tree may be bigger. I find it particularly interesting how wild its lower branches are! super wiggly and sprawling in stark contrast to the more typical straight non branching upper branches. In my mind these lower branches seem less typical growth habits for Bunya. I have seen one other Bunya at the Pah had wiggly lower branch but not multiple, or at this scale! You can also see in the second image from the bottom a super weird looking branch that splits, or it may be an example of Inosculation or self grafting its hard to see where it goes upwards. The branches have a lot of bract retention of dead bracts. Greater than most other Bunya. This gives him a super dense and hairy look. Super dense, massive, fans of foliage, with the flat opposite leaf morph being in the highest abundance compared to the radial whorls that are more prevalent in some Bunya. it makes for an extraordinary looking tree. Huge and funny looking.

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Cool native Kauri at Maungakiekie, Auckland, New Zealand. This one has got it pretty rough. Looks a bit scraggly and has got lots of lichen and something going on with the leaves too. It looks like one of/or the primary was chopped a long while ago. The tree has recovered but looks a little lop sided and stumpy unlike most Kauri of this size. with really long branches stretching towards the volcano. The trunk has a very interesting shape and texture for a Kauri and has super pronounced concave deviations in bark surface. weird one but a cool one!

Afrocarpus falcatus, Outeniqua yellowwood. I'm pretty sure this is the species, foliage comparison is a bit tough and will confirm when it has the "fruit" cones on a future visit. very similar to the trees in the previous Af.falcatus post, both in general size as well as leaf and bark morphology. cool tree!

Really cool to see such a large group of Kauri located in Cornwall park, Auckland. New Zealand. Diversity it trunk and branch shape is amazing, fun to follow each branch to its wiggly conclusion. It’s really cool to see that Kauri have crown shyness, looks to be per trunk/branch rather than per tree which is cool and gives it an even more magical fractured look!

I have been looking for the Kauri for some time!!! this is the Moore Kauri, I had read about this endangered tree being in the domain and I had gone looking several times on my way past looking for it. It is planted just down the hill from Ag.australis and Ag.robusta which is fun to compare with this tree. Funny that I had seen the other two Kauri before each time, but somehow looking at this tree, didn't register! It has some very different looking leaves from its peers, and the trunk has some super interesting shapes going on. the canopy is intersected but a Pohutukawa, which looks to be propping itself up on this Kauri! What I am finding interesting from recent Kauri observations shared by members of the genus are larger more strictly opposite leafs on drooping lower branches, whilst upper branches have shorter leafs that are opposite but often whorled in alternate pairs. Cool!

Big Rimu in Auckland domain, New Zealand. You don’t see many rimu of this big in Auckland so it’s extra cool to see one in the middle of town. Auckland domain is amazing for big old trees. I always find it amazing how much variation there is between adult large rimu and the juveniles and sub adults. Both in foliage morphology and crown shape change. Cool to compare this tree to other posts with this tagged link #dacrydium cupressinum the adult trees have much shorter branchlets and lose length in drooping hanging foliage, partially due to the change in morphology but also the visual illusion of distance to the canopy and size haha! Crown shape opens up and is much less conical when they get this big. I will have to visit the old growth Rimu sometime soon. amazing tree!

Group of three Tōtara at the Rosedale Park. Big trees for North shore! The tree furthest north was covered in spiderwebs (second image upwards) which was really cool to see in the morning light. trees providing habitat for lots of creatures, moss and lichens there is even a native māpou (Myrsine australis) growing out of a branch collar (pictured just above), probably deposited here in Kererū or Tūī poo! as both birds forage both these plants. Cool leaf color too dark green/blue looking foliage, Tōtara have many horticultural cultivars and its cool to see this rather than a lot of the popular gold variety planted as hedges. unsure if these are a cultivar or just individual variation, imo they have pretty similar looking foliage to Tōtara i have seen in habitat. Cool trees!

Check out the scan on Sketchfab: https://skfb.ly/pLR8W

Two Queensland Kauri near sanctuary mahi whenua in Auckland, New Zealand. These two are 25 years old. And are in the chopping block as development on the site threatens these two Kauri. Trees on site are in danger of being cut down as the land is currently disputed in supreme court, disputed by the sanctuary community garden. I fear in all likelihood that the development with continue and the trees on this site will all be cut down. second tree looks a bit funny as its covered in a climbing vine of some kind.

Queensland kauri near sanctuary mahi whenua in Auckland, New Zealand. Next to a former unitech horticultural building. Trees on site are in danger of being cut down as the land is currently disputed in supreme court, disputed by the sanctuary community garden. I fear in all likelihood that the development with continue and the trees on this site will all be cut down, it would be sad to see kauri of any kind felled.

Great Tree! Massive and cool! this tree is located in Parnell, Auckland, NZ. Recognizable as looking the tallest and fullest in Parnell. Maybe oldest and biggest too. What used to be a backyard planting is now a car park for the villa turned business premises. Despite that being a bit depressing, she doesn't seem to mind and is in good health! The amount of detritus beneath the tree is cool! bracts swallowing up a old picnic table. Gives an idea what the leaf litter could be like in habitat. I found the branch morphology of this Norfolk super interesting. The tree exhibits really good example of Heterophylla you can see in the video and last two image comparison the difference in lower (left) and upper (right) branches, bracts and leafs. Some of the upper branches are more wiggly than most Norfolk Araucaria which stood out to me! almost reminiscent of Ar.heterophylla's close relative Ar.cunninghamii which has more Serpentine branches.