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Kauri Pine

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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In botany, Agathis australis, a conifer native of New Zealand where it is abundant in forests in the North Island between the North Cape and 38° south latitude. The forests are rapidly disappearing owing to use as timber and to destruction by fires. It is a tall resiniferous tree, usually ranging from 80 to loo ft. in height, with a trunk 4 to io ft. in diameter, but reaching i 50 ft., with a diameter of 15 to 22 ft.; it has a straight columnar trunk and a rounded bushy head. The thick resiniferous bark falls off in large flat flakes. The leaves, which persist for several years, are very thick and leathery; on young trees they are lance-shaped 2 to 4 in. long and 4 to a in. broad, becoming on mature trees linear-oblong or obovate-oblong and to 12 in. long. The ripe cones are almost spherical, erect, and 2 to 3 in. in diameter; the broad, flat, rather thin cone-scales fall from the axis when ripe. Each scale bears a single compressed seed with a membranous wing. The timber is remarkable for its strength, durability and the ease with which it is worked. The resin, kaurigum, is an amber-like deposit dug in large quantities from the sites of previous forests, in lumps generally varying in size from that of a hen's egg to that of a man's head. The colour is of a rich brown or amber yellow, or it may be almost colourless and translucent. It is of value for varnishmaking.