This is a series of images comparing the Araucaria heterophylla (Norfolk Island Pine) and the Araucaria columnaris (Cook Pine). I´ve been studying four different species in the Araucaria genus for about three years now. These two in particular are often mistaken one for the other and in fact I did not realize they were two tree species until I started getting a good look at them. The image above is about a half mile from my house on a historic peace of property called the "Finca of San Jose". It used to be a weathly persons large estate with a mansion but now it is an insane asylum. The original family owned a shiping company and had many exotic species of plants brought back which they planted on their estate. The reason the Cook Pine (on the right) is bent is that the top part of the tree died and a new top formed from below the dead portion. Norfolks are a lot less pointy at the top than Cooks.
The bark is one of the key differences in these two trees. The Cook pine has flaky bark that peals off in small rolls. The Norfolk only has a slight amount of flaking on a much smaller scale.
Young Norfolks are much less filled out than Cooks with more distace between the rings of branches. I´ve also notices that the branches of the cooks have more "leaves" then the Norfolks. Also Cooks almost always have a charactaristic lean and their trunk is often slightly bent. Norfolks on the other hand are very straight and upright.
I´ve noticed that the branches of the Cooks slope down and then curl up on the ends. The Norfolk tend to be straight out or sloped slightly up. The branches of the Norfolk also tend to be a lot longer than the Cooks (see the top image).
The image above shows the characteristic lean of the Cook pine.I´ve seen similar female cones on both of these trees but much more frequently on the Norfolks.
I recently came accross the image below at...
The author had it listed as a Norfolk Pine. It looks to me more like a Cook pine however as I have seen these same "blossoms" on other Cooks.
Below is a picture that I took from a Araucaria Columnaris.
9 comments:
Dan, you are quite right.
After taking another close look at the trees in the light of yours and Tony's comments, it is clear that the 8 southernmost Araucarias on Whale Beach, differ from the remaining 30 or more and are A.columnaris (Cook Island pines).
Have a look at Tony's comments in the comment I posted 15 December 2007 and the link below for further light on the subject.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericinsf/386161014/
PS. Thanks for this.
I just found your blog site and it has been a real eye opener. I recently posted some pictures on my blog.
http://barcann.livejournal.com/
and there was a discussion in the comments on what type of pine tree we had a picture of. After checking out your site, we know we have a Norfolk Pine and the original commenter calling it a Cook Pine has retracted that.
Thanks so much for your blog site in helping us figure this out.
P.S.
I linked your blog site in my last entry.
Barbara
Wow. Thank you for clarifying the differences here. I was just about to label a set of new photos on my Flickr account ("Joel Abroad") as Norfolks, but now it's clear they're Cooks. I'll have to bookmark this blog.
So can I send you a photo of these trees I found on the top of Nuuanu Pali? I heard Captian Cook planted them so he could repair his ship masts as he passed by on his many trips through the "Sandwich Islands" now called Hawaii.
These trees are similar but also different from the photos here.
Anonymous - I´d love to see your pics of Nuuanu Pali Norfolks. You can send them to at...
danandeva at hotmail dot com
Where can I buy a Cook and is there any chance I will get it to survive in the Atlanta GA area? billdog@charter.net
It may be difficult to find a Cook pine sold as such. I am convinced that many of the small potted plants sold as "Norfolks" are in fact Cooks. There are also hybrids Norfolk-Cook and when they are young they can be very difficult to tell apart. I think that they should grow in Atlanta if you don´t get too many freezes. I´ve seen these trees for sale even in grocery stores and supermarkets. Sometimes they are incorrectly named Araucaria excelsa as well.
I would like to purchase one for my place in Aransas Pass, Texas I have seen one growing there and it is very tall but I can't find them anywhere any ideas?
There's research and information I posted on this site as far back as 2005.
www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=22892
I now run my own site but that thread is still there with the pictures and details.
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