Agathis microstachya
Encyclopedia
Agathis microstachya a species of conifer in the Araucariaceae
Araucariaceae
Araucariaceae, commonly referred to as araucarians, is a very ancient family of coniferous trees. It achieved its maximum diversity in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, when it was distributed almost worldwide...

 family, was described in 1918 by John Frederick Bailey and Cyril Tenison White
Cyril Tenison White
Cyril Tenison White was an Australian botanist.White was born in Brisbane to Henry White, a trade broker, and Louisa nee Bailey...

. It is found only in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and it is threatened by habitat loss.

Description

Bull Kauri grows to about 50 m in height and 2.7 m diameter. The trunk is unbuttressed, straight and with little taper. Distinctive features are coarse, flaky bark
Bark
Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...

, medium-sized cones
Conifer cone
A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the reproductive structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds. The male cones, which produce pollen, are usually herbaceous and much less conspicuous even at full maturity...

 with 160-210 scales, and leaves with numerous lngitudinal, parallel veins.

Distribution

It has a very restricted distribution, being almost limited to the Atherton Tableland
Atherton Tableland
The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia. It is located west to south-south-west inland from Cairns, well into the tropics, but its elevated position provides a climate suitable for dairy farming. It has an area of around...

 in Far North Queensland
Far North Queensland
Far North Queensland, or FNQ, is the northernmost part of the Australian state of Queensland. The region, which contains a large section of the Tropical North Queensland area, stretches from the city of Cairns north to the Torres Strait...

, with its altitudinal range 400-900 m asl
Above mean sea level
The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...

.

Timber

The timber has an even texture, is easy to work and polishes well. The heartwood is cream to pale brown in colour. It is soft and light with a density of about 480 kg
Kilogram
The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...

/m3 (30 lb
Pound (mass)
The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...

/ft3). It is not durable in contact with the ground but can be used for house framing and flooring.
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