Araucaria hunsteinii
Araucaria hunsteinii is a species of Araucaria native to the mountains of Papua New Guinea. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Description
It is a very large evergreen tree, growing to tall, exceptionally to, with a trunk up to diameter. The branches are horizontal, produced in whorls of five or six. The leaves are spirally arranged, scale-like or awl-like, long and broad at the base, with a sharp tip; leaves on young trees are shorter and narrower. It is usually monoecious with male and female cones on the same tree; the pollen cones are long and slender, up to long and broad; the seed cones are oval, up to long and broad. The seed cones disintegrate at maturity to release the numerous long nut-like seeds.
It is a fast-growing tree, and is being tested as a potentially important timber crop in tropical highland climates.
Pests
Barinae spp., Setomorpha rutella, Microlepidopteras, Cacatua galerita are pests of pine nut production in A. hunsteinii. C. galerita may cause half of the seed crop to be lost in a year, mostly by trying to eat cones that are not yet ready. Another source describes A. hunsteinii as suffering few pests in plantations and therefore substituting A. cunninghamii in plantations with more pests.