Black Cypress Pines growing at the top of Molonglo Gorge – the other trees are Spearwood Wattles. Photo: Ian Fraser.
Say the word ‘pines’ and people probably think of plantations of Radiata (also known as Monterey) Pine which cover huge swathes of areas around Tumut and Bathurst, the south-east of South Australia and across Victoria and Tasmania.
(Although ironically, this pine is highly endangered in its very small natural range in coastal California and Mexico.)
However, there are some 50 species of native conifers (which means ‘bearing cones’ and not flowers) in Australia, whose ancestors grew across the world from about 300 million years ago, among forests of giant ferns and other plant groups which have long gone from the earth. This was well before the rise of the dinosaurs.
In time they dominated the world for 100 million years – and I’ll pause while you contemplate that – and then the dinosaurs did munch on them.
Eventually though the flowering plants appeared and became dominant, but in many parts of the world, especially high on mountains and near the poles where it’s too cold for birds and insects to be reliable pollinators, the conifers still rule.
They are not so dominant in Australia, though inland there are still extensive woodlands of cypress pines, which were heavily logged for their easily worked timber which is resistant to rot and termites. Many of the old shearing sheds on the plains in western NSW are made of cypress.
However today I want to introduce the only two native pines that grow naturally in the ACT, though neither is widespread.
Mountain Plum Pine sprawling over granite boulders in the high mountains. Photo: Ian Fraser.
In drier rocky woodland areas, especially in Molonglo Gorge and along parts of the Murrumbidgee Corridor, dark green Black Cypress Pines (Callitris endlicheri) appear in stands of often slender tapering trees. Like most cypress pines they bear both male and female cones on the same plant.
The male cones are small, on the ends of the branches, and produce vast quantities of minute pollen grains which drift on the wind. Most of these are lost, but enough land by chance on an open female cone to ensure the success of the species. The rounded female cones are much larger and woody and stay on the tree for years holding the seeds. After a fire, which usually kills the tree, they will open to drop the seeds. However in the absence of fire the cones will eventually open anyway. (See the accompanying photo of both male and female cones.) The cones are very hard, but any of the local cockatoos can crack them to extract the seeds.
Black Cypress Pine cones – female on the left, male on the right with pollen attached. Photo: Ian Fraser.
The other local native pine is very different in appearance and habitat. Mountain Plum Pine (Podocarpus lawrencei) belongs to a different family, the podocarps, whose ancestors arose in Gondwana and which are still only found in the southern lands. Most podocarps are rainforest trees, but Mountain Plum Pine grows as a sprawling ground cover across rocks high in mountains, even above the snow line.
These shrubs provide crucial shelter for small animals by providing a still warm air layer between the rocks and the dense layer of small leaves even in winter when snow lies on top of the foliage.
Unlike the cypress pines, Mountain Plum Pines have separate male and female plants. The male cones are small and purple, while the female cones are quite unlike those of the cypress pine – indeed they look like a glossy red berry but this is misleading as they don’t contain a seed. The seed is carried in the open at the end of the stem, and it is the stem which is red and swollen to resemble a fruit and even contains sugars, to attract animals which then distribute the seeds.
Mountain Plum Pine female plant, Brindabellas. The green seed is above the red glossy sweet stem. Photo: Ian Fraser.
An excellent place to look for them is along the high parts of the Mount Franklin Road in Namadgi National Park (and early May is not too late to go up there to have a look). Just walk along the road beyond the locked gate on the slopes of Mount Ginini and watch the roadside on your right; there are very healthy Mountain Plum Pines growing on the roadside. If you rub the leaves between your fingers you’ll immediately recognise this low shrub as a pine, even if your eyes say otherwise!
I love our wildflowers as much as anyone, but there are other even older local plants which lack flowers but still deserve our attention and admiration.
Original Article published by Ian Fraser on Region Canberra.
