Cook’s Pine
Cook’s Pine: a giant towering over the Botanical Garden
Among the wonders of the Botanical Garden of Palermo, one tree stands majestically above all others: the Araucaria columnaris, also known as the “Cook pine”.
Native to New Caledonia and the Hebrides, the Araucaria columnaris is an extremely long-lived species, a slender conifer with a trunk that tends to fork halfway up. In its natural habitat, it can reach a height of 70 metres. Its branches are covered with small green leaves, pointed and curved, arranged in a spiral and overlapping. Its reproductive organs appear in distinct cones: the male cones are cylindrical in shape, while the female cones are ellipsoidal.
A fascinating curiosity that distinguishes it is its natural inclination. Not surprisingly, it is nicknamed the “Tower of Pisa of conifers”. Recent studies conducted by scientist Matt Ritter on specimens on various continents have revealed that this species tends to lean towards the equator, and the greater the distance from it, the greater the inclination of the tree.
In its country of origin, it is an important resource for the production of timber and resin, but in Italy it is mainly used for ornamental purposes in parks and gardens, thanks to its imposing size and elegant bearing.
The Botanical Garden of Palermo has recently confirmed the exceptional size of its specimen. In 2022, Dr Andrea Maroè, scientific director of the Giant Trees Foundation, climbed the tree to measure its height using the Direct Tape Drop method, the most accurate in the world.
The results set a new record: at 37 metres and 62 centimetres, the Araucaria in the Botanical Garden is not only the tallest tree in Palermo and the whole of Sicily, but also ranks thirteenth among the tallest trees in Italy and is the second tallest Araucaria columnaris in Europe, surpassed only by a specimen in Portugal.
The Botanical Garden of Palermo houses a rich collection of Araucaria including other species native to Australia, such as A. cunninghamii, A. heterophylla and the beautiful A. bidwillii, a species whose female cones can weigh up to 10 kg.
