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July, 2008 The ‘Bunya Bunya’

Many of you know of the majestic & beautiful tree, the Araucaria bidwillii ‘Bunya Pine’ or ‘Bunya Bunya’ at Buena Creek Gardens. We’re excited because this year there are about 5 or 6 female cones way up there, the pineapple shaped cones should be dropping soon. The female cones can weigh 10 to 20 lbs. Forming high up in the tree, these cones are part of a unique seed dispersal mechanism, if they fall when ripe they can explode on their impact from the long drop, propelling the seeds away from the tree, (watch out below,!) They can also fall in-tact, creating poor seed dispersal. The male cones or pollen cones are about 8” long and 1” in width. Male and female strobili or cones contain the reproductive structures and are usually borne on the same tree.

At Buena Creek Gardens the ‘Bunya Bunya’ is about 60 feet in height, and is located along one of the main paths to the Drought Tolerant Garden, so we have a detour directing you to other paths because we would not want to get hit by one of these amazing cones on its way down.

Plant Description

Botanical name: Araucaria bidwillii ‘Bunya Bunya’ or ‘Bunya Pine’ (though it is not a pine) is an evergreen conifer. A. bidwillii was a sacred tree for the Aboriginal people. Some of its close relatives in this genus are the Monkey Puzzle tree, the Norfolk Island pine and the Cook pine. The Bunya pine is considered a "living fossil" as it is a tree species that is found in the fossil record in South America and Europe dating to the Jurassic period. The Bunya can be 20-50 ft. In the wild they can get up to 120 ft. tall. This tree is a large tall tree with a straight trunk, prickly leaves, and separate male and female flowers, strobili or cones. Male cones are generally produced in the fall, and female in summer. A typical large harvest of the female cones occurs approximately every three years, January to March, though here in our climate it is June to August, and has been more often than every three years.

Distribution

The Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii) is a tree species native to Queensland, Australia and a member of the Araucaria genus.

Uses

Bunya harvest was a time of feasting and ceremonies. Aboriginal tribes headed for the Bunya mountains where each tribe had ownership of particular trees. The tribes gathered in designated meeting places and while there may have been hostilities, they were suspended until the harvest was over. Fruit/nuts were gathered and taken home.

The fruit/nuts were eaten raw, roasted, or pounded to flour to make a kind of bread.
Today, the nuts can still be eaten raw when fresh, or boiled to make it easier to extract the nut from the hard shell. The nuts can then be sliced or pureed and added to desserts and savory dishes. The nuts' flour can also be used to make breads and cakes.

“Bunya Pine Nut Bread” Sounds pretty good!

Please note; at this time Buena Creek Gardens (unfortunately for those of you who have enough room), do not have any available Bunya trees, but after these seeds are down, we are definitely going to try to propagate them, and as well the new growth for cuttings. Patience is the key, seed germination can take as long as six months, and even longer for roots to grow.

Keep checking back for updates on the ‘Bunya Bunya’.