CAT-00103
Bunya pine
Araucaria bidwillii
Catalog fields
- Genus
- Araucaria
- Photo
- photos/CAT-00103-A.jpg
- Edible
- Yes
- layout
- full
- Habitat
- Locally abundant in tall, montane rainforests in deep soils. Often an emergent tree above the rainforest canopy.
- Published
- Yes
- Food group
- Nut / seed
- Latin name
- Araucaria bidwillii
- Fruit photo
- Not recorded
- Plant title
- Bunya pine
- Source URLs
- https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Araucaria%20bidwillii | https://www.daleysfruit.com.au/bushfoodintro.htm; https://anpsa.org.au/plant_profiles/araucaria-bidwillii/ Open source ↗ Open source 2 ↗ Open source 3 ↗
- Catalogue ID
- CAT-00103
- Mature width
- Not confirmed; allow spread appropriate to growth habit
- Native range
- Endemic to Qld; known from two disjunct occurrences, one near Mount Molloy in the north-east and one near Gympie and inland from there in the south-east.
- Plant family
- Araucariaceae
- Supplier SKU
- Not recorded
- Listing group
- Nursery-listed / regional edible
- Mature height
- 30-45 m
- Native states
- QLD
- Original list
- No
- Research date
- 10/10/2026
- Research notes
- Source is a nursery catalogue overview; detailed species verification remains. Profile enriched from botanical/nursery sources. Dimensions are unpruned regional estimates where available; missing measurements remain explicit. Seasons are regional guides and vary with climate, location, cultivar and plant maturity. Drought and cultivation guidance are qualitative garden inferences, not measured ratings.
- Evidence status
- Nursery food-use listing; species detail review pending
- Fruiting season
- Cones generally mature summer-early autumn; heavy crops are intermittent.
- Background photo
- Not recorded
- Edible component
- Cooked seed kernels
- Flowering season
- No true flowers; male cones usually autumn.
- Brief description
- Very tall conifer with a domed crown and large edible seeds.
- Drought tolerance
- Moderate once established; dislikes waterlogging.
- Preparation notes
- Remove cone and seed covering; bunya kernels are commonly boiled or roasted. Keep clear of falling cones.
- Flower description
- No true flowers: a conifer producing long male pollen cones and large female seed cones.
- General cultivation
- General guidance (qualitative): Requires a very large property with safe clearance around falling cones.
- Botanical description
- Tree to 50 m high, crown ± dome-shaped. Adult leaves dimorphic, narrowly triangular to acicular on orthotropic shoots, narrowly triangular on plagiotropic shoots, broadly based, decurrent, spreading and secondarily distichous, 1–5 cm long, 3–10 mm wide, glossy, dark green above, paler below, apex sharply pointed. Juvenile leaves similar, smaller. Male cones cylindrical, sessile, 6–11 cm long, 10–15 mm diam. Female cones terminal on short lateral branches, ovoid, 20–30 (–35) cm long, 15–20 cm diam.; bract-scales winged. Seeds ovoid, 20–25 mm long, 15–20 mm diam., shed from scales at maturity.
- Other botanical names
- Not recorded
- Attracts birds and bugs
- Native bees and insects visit flowers; canopy shelters birds.
- Flora of Australia profile
- https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Araucaria%20bidwillii Open source ↗
- Fruit type and description
- Very large female cones contain numerous edible seeds; heavy falling cones are hazardous.
- Flora of Australia citation
- K.D .Hill, P.G. Kodela. Araucaria bidwillii. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Canberra. https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Araucaria%20bidwillii (accessed 2026-10-14). Copyright Commonwealth of Australia; CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). HTML formatting removed; species-level context added where noted. Open source ↗ Open source 2 ↗
- Flora of Australia retrieved
- 14/10/2026