Agathis
Encyclopedia
- For the braconid wasp genus, see Agathis (wasp).
- For details on New Zealand Kauri, see Agathis australisAgathis australisAgathis australis, commonly known as the kauri, is a coniferous tree found north of 38°S in the northern districts of New Zealand's North Island. It is the largest but not tallest species of tree in New Zealand, standing up to 50 m tall in the emergent layer above the forest's main canopy. The...
- The type of gastropod marine mollusc is spelled cowrie, while the New Zealand land molluscParyphantaParyphanta, common name kauri snails, is a genus of large predatory land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Rhytididae.-Species:Species within the genus Paryphanta include:* Paryphanta busbyi...
is spelled Kauri .
The genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Agathis, commonly known as kauri or dammar, is a relatively small genus of 21 species of evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
. The genus is part of the ancient Araucariaceae
Araucariaceae
Araucariaceae, commonly referred to as araucarians, is a very ancient family of coniferous trees. It achieved its maximum diversity in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, when it was distributed almost worldwide...
family of conifers, a group once widespread during the Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
period, but now largely restricted to the Southern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
except for a number of extant Malesia
Malesia
Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the boundaries of the Indomalaya ecozone and Australasia ecozone, and also a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical Kingdom.-Floristic province:...
n Agathis.
Description
Mature kauri trees have characteristically large trunks, forming a bole with little or no branching below the crownCrown (botany)
The crown of a plant refers to the totality of the plant's aboveground parts, including stems, leaves, and reproductive structures. A plant canopy consists of one or more plant crowns growing in a given area....
. In contrast, young trees are normally conical
Cone (geometry)
A cone is an n-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a base to a point called the apex or vertex. Formally, it is the solid figure formed by the locus of all straight line segments that join the apex to the base...
in shape, forming a more rounded or irregularly shaped crown as they achieve maturity.
Bark
Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...
is smooth and light grey to grey-brown, usually peeling into irregular flakes that become thicker on more mature trees. The branch structure is often horizontal or, when larger, ascending. The lowest branches often leave circular branch scars when they detach from the lower trunk.
The juvenile leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
in all species are larger than the adult, more or less acute, varying among the species from ovate to lanceolate. Adult leaves are opposite, elliptical to linear
Linear
In mathematics, a linear map or function f is a function which satisfies the following two properties:* Additivity : f = f + f...
, very leathery and quite thick. Young leaves are often a coppery-red, contrasting markedly with the usually green or glaucous-green foliage of the previous season.
The male
Male
Male refers to the biological sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilization...
pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
cones
Conifer cone
A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the reproductive structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds. The male cones, which produce pollen, are usually herbaceous and much less conspicuous even at full maturity...
appear usually only on larger trees after seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
cones have appeared. The female
Female
Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...
seed cones usually develop on short lateral branchlets, maturing after two years. They are normally oval or globe
Globe
A globe is a three-dimensional scale model of Earth or other spheroid celestial body such as a planet, star, or moon...
shaped.
Seeds of some species are attacked by the caterpillar
Caterpillar
Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...
s of Agathiphaga
Agathiphaga
Agathiphaga is a genus of moths in the family Agathiphagidae, known as kauri moths. This caddis fly-like lineage of primitive moths was first reported by Lionel Jack Dumbleton in 1952, as a new genus of Micropterigidae....
, some of the most primitive of all living moths.
Uses
Various species of kauri give diverse resinResin
Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...
s such as kauri copal, Manilla copal and Dammar gum
Dammar gum
Dammar gum is obtained from the Dipterocarpaceae family of trees in India and East Asia, principally those of the genera Shorea, Balanocarpus or Hopea. Most is produced by tapping trees; however, some is collected in fossilized form from the ground. The gum varies in colour from clear to pale...
. The timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
is generally straight-grained and of fine quality with an exceptional strength-to-weight ratio and rot resistance, making it ideal for yacht hull construction. The wood is commonly used in the manufacture of low priced guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s due to its good resonating properties, yet relatively low price of production. It is also used for some Go boards (goban). The uses of the New Zealand species (A. australis) included shipbuilding, house construction, wood panelling, furniture making, mine braces, and railway sleepers
Railroad tie
A railroad tie/railway tie , or railway sleeper is a rectangular item used to support the rails in railroad tracks...
.
Species list
- Agathis atropurpureaAgathis atropurpureaThe Black Kauri or Blue Kauri is a species of conifer in the Araucariaceae family.It is found only in Queensland, Australia.It is threatened by habitat loss.-Source:...
- Black Kauri, Blue Kauri (QueenslandQueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
) - Agathis australisAgathis australisAgathis australis, commonly known as the kauri, is a coniferous tree found north of 38°S in the northern districts of New Zealand's North Island. It is the largest but not tallest species of tree in New Zealand, standing up to 50 m tall in the emergent layer above the forest's main canopy. The...
- Kauri, New Zealand Kauri (North IslandNorth IslandThe North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
, New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
) - Agathis borneensisAgathis borneensis, also known as borneo kauri is a species of conifer in the Araucariaceae family.-Observations:This tree is found mainly in Maluku and Sulawesi. The most similar species is Agathis dammara.-External links:*...
- (western MalesiaMalesiaMalesia is a biogeographical region straddling the boundaries of the Indomalaya ecozone and Australasia ecozone, and also a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical Kingdom.-Floristic province:...
, BorneoBorneoBorneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
) - Agathis corbassoniiAgathis corbassoniiAgathis corbassonii is a species of Agathis, endemic to New Caledonia, where it occurs scattered throughout the north and centre of the island at altitudes of 300-700 m. It is threatened by habitat loss....
- Red Kauri (New CaledoniaNew CaledoniaNew Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
) - Agathis dammaraAgathis dammaraAgathis dammara is a coniferous timber tree native to the Moluccas and the Philippines.-Description:Agathis dammara is a medium-large conifer up to 60 metres in height found in tropical rainforests, growing from sea level to very high mountainous regions where it becomes extremely stunted...
(syn. A. celebica) - Bindang (eastern Malesia) - Agathis endertiiAgathis endertiiAgathis endertii is a species of conifer in the Araucariaceae family.It is found in Indonesia and Malaysia.It is threatened by habitat loss.-Distribution and usages:...
- (Borneo) - Agathis flavescensAgathis flavescensAgathis flavescens is a species of conifer in the Araucariaceae family. It is found only in remote parts of peninsular Malaysia. Less than 10,000 individuals are likely to exist in three separate populations. An area where specimens frequently display yellowing leaves is suggestive of poor nutrient...
- (Borneo) - Agathis kinabaluensisAgathis kinabaluensisAgathis kinabaluensis is a species of conifer in the Araucariaceae family.It is found only in Malaysia.It is threatened by habitat loss.-References:* Conifer Specialist Group 1998. . Downloaded on 10 July 2007....
- (Borneo) - Agathis labillardieriAgathis labillardieriAgathis labillardieri is a species of conifer in the Araucariaceae family.It is found in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.-References:* Conifer Specialist Group 1998. . Downloaded on 10 July 2007....
- (New GuineaNew GuineaNew Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
) - Agathis lanceolataAgathis lanceolataAgathis lanceolata is a species of conifer in the Araucariaceae family.It is found only in New Caledonia.It is threatened by habitat loss.-References:* Conifer Specialist Group 1998. . Downloaded on 10 July 2007....
- (New Caledonia) - Agathis lenticulaAgathis lenticulaAgathis lenticula is a species of conifer in the Araucariaceae family. It is found only in Malaysia.It is threatened by habitat loss.-References:* Conifer Specialist Group 1998. . Downloaded on 10 July 2007....
- (Borneo) - Agathis macrophyllaAgathis macrophyllaAgathis macrophylla known as the Pacific Kauri, is a coniferous tree native to the islands of the southwestern Pacific Ocean in tropical humid lowlands and lower montane regions, notably in Fiji, Vanuatu, the Santa Cruz Islands, and the Solomon Islands...
(syn. A. vitiensis) - Pacific Kauri, Dakua (FijiFijiFiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, VanuatuVanuatuVanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
, Solomon IslandsSolomon IslandsSolomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
) - Agathis microstachyaAgathis microstachyaAgathis microstachya , a species of conifer in the Araucariaceae family, was described in 1918 by John Frederick Bailey and Cyril Tenison White. It is found only in Australia and it is threatened by habitat loss.-Description:...
- Bull Kauri (Queensland, Australia) - Agathis montanaAgathis montanais a species of conifer in the Araucariaceae family.It is found only in New Caledonia.-Source:* Conifer Specialist Group 1998. . Downloaded on 10 July 2007....
- (New Caledonia) - Agathis mooreiAgathis mooreiAgathis moorei is a species of Agathis, endemic to New Caledonia, where it occurs scattered throughout the island in subtropical rainforest at altitudes of up to 1,000 m. It is threatened by habitat loss....
- White Kauri (New Caledonia) - Agathis orbiculaAgathis orbiculaAgathis orbicula is a coniferous tree native to Borneo.-References:*...
- (Borneo) - Agathis ovataAgathis ovataAgathis ovata is a species of conifer, genus Agathis in the Araucariaceae family.It is found only on the southwest Pacific island of New Caledonia.It is threatened by habitat loss.-Habitat:...
- (New Caledonia) - Agathis philippinensisAgathis philippinensisAgathis philippinensis is a species of Agathis native to the Philippines, Sulawesi and Halmahera, where it occurs in upland tropical rainforest at 450-2,200 m altitude, rarely as low as 250 m in northern Luzon....
- (PhilippinesPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, SulawesiSulawesiSulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...
) - Agathis robustaAgathis robustaAgathis robusta is a coniferous tree in the family Araucariaceae, native to eastern Queensland, Australia...
- Queensland Kauri (Queensland, Australia; New Guinea) - Agathis silbaeAgathis silbaeAgathis silbae is a species of conifer in the Araucariaceae family.It is found only in Vanuatu.It is threatened by habitat loss.-References:* Conifer Specialist Group 1998. . Downloaded on 10 July 2007....
- (Vanuatu) - Agathis spathulataAgathis spathulataAgathis spathulata is a species of Agathis native to the highlands of eastern Papua New Guinea, occurring at altitudes of 900-1980 m. Although long known, it has only relatively recently been distinguished from Agathis robusta, being described first as a subspecies of it, Agathis robusta subsp...
- New Guinea Kauri (Papua New Guinea)
External links
- Systematics of Agathis
- Gymnosperm Database: Agathis
- Kauri forest in Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand