Agathis robusta (C.Moore ex F.Muell.) F.M.Bailey

Queensland Kauri is widely planted as an ornamental in the warm-temperate regions of both hemispheres, where it has earned a reputation as an attractive and potentially monumental ornamental tree. Though it is probably as frost-hardy as A. australis, and certainly hardier in other respects, it is not as yet usually found in the warmer gardens of the cool-temperate regions. Given the probability of climatic conditions becoming warmer in future, A. robusta may be poised to move into cooler regions, where it is likely in time to overshadow the better-known New Zealand Kauri.

Agathis robusta occurs in two pockets in Queensland: in the Cook and Kennedy districts of northern Queensland, where it was formerly known as A. palmerstonii, and at Wide Bay, southeastern Queensland, from where it was described. It is also found in Papua New Guinea: the typical subspecies has been recorded from a small area near Port Moresby, but subsp. nesophila is more prevalent in Papua New Guinea, found in various localities in the Owen Stanley Range, the southeastern part of the central mountain range of mainland New Guinea, and in New Britain, the principal island of the Bismarck Archipelago.

According to early records, shortly after the species was first properly reported in 1849, plant material, including living plants, was repeatedly sent back to nurseries in London, starting in 1852 and on several occasions during the 1850s. However, no specimens seem to have survived in cultivation out-of-doors: the genus is only mentioned in passing by Bean (1914) and Elwes and Henry (Elwes & Henry 1910) in their treatment of Araucaria, with no hint that any trees were cultivated in the British Isles. A paper prepared for the British Commonwealth Forestry Conference held in 1957 wrote off the entire genus in one meagre paragraph, which declared that ‘No tree belonging to this genus will develop in Great Britain out-of-doors’, and only A. australis could be occasionally found in the mildest part of the country, where they rarely exceeded 3 m in height. One suspects the genus was only mentioned at all because the Conference was held in Australia and New Zealand (Macdonald et al. 1957).

It is surprising that Agathis robusta was not trialled in balmier havens such as the Scilly Islands or southwestern Ireland, like A. australis was. Perhaps when gardeners saw that A. australis was not hardy in most of the British Isles, they assumed A. robusta, being a more tropical species, was not worth trying (S. Grant, pers. comm. 2026). As of 2026, only two specimens are recorded in the Tree Register: one at Kew planted in 2021 was 1 m tall in 2022 and about 20 cm taller by 2026 (pers. obs.), while another at Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens in Cornwall, of unknown planting date, was 80 cm in 2024 (both trees distinguished as a ‘remarkable tree’ of their respective region!) (The Tree Register 2026). Several trees also survive at Tregrehan, Cornwall, though they are growing slowly, standing only about 1.5 m tall after 10 years in the ground. According to Tom Hudson (pers. comm. 2026), they tend to grow in autumn and so are susceptible to getting cut back in winter, but look fine when winters are mild.

In warmer areas just beyond the cool-temperate region we focus on here, Agathis robusta is indeed much more popular in cultivation than A. australis. It has done well in Portugal, particularly in Sintra, where fine specimens were planted in the Quinta de Monserrate, the largest reaching 27 m × 127 cm in 1943 (Franco 1951). A large tree still survives there, 29.4 m × 227 cm dbh in 2017. According to the Monumental Trees website (2026) it was planted – implausibly – around 1800, but it likely dates to not too many years after the species was first introduced; the botanic garden at Monserrate was founded in the 1850s (European Route of Historic Gardens 2026). Large trees grow in parks in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, where the species has also been planted as a street tree, a surprising choice given the eventual size. The trees are reported to be particularly fastigiate (not uncommon in the ricker or juvenile stage) and in 2018 were serving their purpose well (Sullivan 2018).

In North America, it has found welcome in California. According to Butterfield (1964), it was first introduced into California in 1865, borne on a ship captained by James Welsh, which sailed from New South Wales to San Francisco and carried Australian and New Zealand plants (McClintock 2001). Perhaps the most notable specimen is found at The Huntington, Los Angeles, where it is the oldest planted tree in the garden. It was planted in 1890, but was transplanted in 1908 due to the construction of the Huntington Art Gallery in the space where it stood. The tree was already 12 m tall and had very few side roots, but it did have a long tap root 18 cm in diameter. In order to move the tree, gardeners had to cut the tap root 1.5 m below the surface. To stop the bleeding, they seared the cut with a plumber’s blowtorch. The transplant was nevertheless successful, and the Queensland Kauri is one of the garden’s most notable trees, referred to affectionately as ‘the world’s largest cutting’. In 2021, it was ascertained to be 34.1 m tall, 190 cm dbh, with an average crown spread of 8.4 m, earning the title of National Champion in the California Big Trees registry (Musial 2021; UFEI 2026). The species also prospers in cultivation as far north as San Francisco, though in the relative warmth of the Bay Area. Three specimens have grown well at Stanford University Campus in a regularly watered lawn. Planted in 2004 as seedlings with 2.5-cm stems, the tallest measured 15.8 m × 109 cm dbh in 2026 (Trees of Stanford 2026; S. Patel, pers. comm. 2026). At San Francisco Botanical Garden, a tree accessioned in 1983 has formed a large columnar tree, and later accessions have also prospered (San Francisco Botanical Garden 2026), while the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley lists three younger trees accessioned in 2012 (University of California Botanical Gardens at Berkeley 2026).

Cultivated trees have grown to impressive dimensions in New Zealand. According to Burstall and Sale (1984), the species ‘relishes New Zealand conditions’, but after initial enthusiasm, Queensland Kauri were in little favour during the 20th century. At Yatton Park, Tauranga, in the Bay of Plenty Region, North Island, a tree estimated to have been planted around 1880 reached 32.4 m × 226 cm dbh in 2024. Several large specimens close to exceeding 30 m in height grow in parks in Auckland, with dbh between 150 and 200 cm (New Zealand Notable Trees Trust 2026). It is also cultivated in Australia, with several large specimens recorded in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia, aside from its native Queensland. The largest recorded by Australia’s National Register of Big Trees (2026) grows in Albury, New South Wales, 37 m × 210 cm dbh, measured in 2012; according to Earle (2026), the tree was planted in 1910, and an alternative measurement of 39.2 cm × 200 cm dbh was recorded in 2008. A tree also 37 m tall, but with a slightly slimmer trunk (202 cm dbh) is recorded at Adelaide Botanic Garden, South Australia (National Register of Big Trees 2026). At Mittagong, New South Wales, two 40-year-old trees have endured temperatures down to –4°C, 15 cm of snow, drought and 43°C without supplementary water and regular strong winds. A small specimen there survived in supersaturated soils for many months (S. Grant, pers. comm. 2026).

In South America, large Agathis robusta are quite common in city parks and private gardens of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Montevideo, Uruguay, where A. australis is not planted at all. They dominate the parks where they grow, but younger trees are rarely seen, and the species is not commonly found in nurseries. According to Barrett (1958), they do not produce fruit in Buenos Aires, but in Montevideo, at least in recent years, they regularly produce copious seed (pers. obs.). A census of trees in public parks and green spaces of Buenos Aires carried out in 2011 recorded nearly 150 specimens, the tallest reaching 37 m and the thickest trunk measuring 148 cm in diameter (Buenos Aires Data 2026). In his 1970 monograph, ‘A first look at Agathis’, T.C. Whitmore mentioned trees in cultivation in Argentina (‘A. robusta (?) is growing well in Buenos Aires and in the northeast’) among only a few other collections worldwide, mainly in tropical areas in Asia and Brazil (Whitmore 1977). The question mark he places after the species name reflects confusion about the identity of the trees, which in some works are considered to be A. alba, now a synonym of A. dammara (e.g. Parodi 1959).

The species was first recorded by Westerners in 1842. Andrew Petrie, a Scottish pioneer and architect, Superintendent of Works at the Moreton Bay Settlement of New South Wales, reported finding by Mary River in Wide Bay, southeastern Queensland, an unknown species of pine ‘similar to the New Zealand Cowrie pine’ (Petrie 1904). He noted it formed valuable timber, and the aborigines made nets from the inner bark of the tree. This discovery was evidently not made public till later, because John Bidwill expressed great excitement in finding the species on New Year’s Day, 1849, also by the Mary River. He reported that he had first heard from an Aborigine from Wide Bay about a pine found there that was like Araucaria, but closer to Moreton Bay Pine (Araucaria cunninghamii) than to Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii). Bidwill suspected that it might be a Dammara (Agathis), and finally came across it while prospecting the site for what would be the city of Maryborough. He wrote in a letter to a friend: ‘I saw a beautiful straight spar rising before me, covered with a smooth shining bark, very different from that of the Moreton Bay Pine, and to my great delight, as you may suppose, found under the tree several decayed cones, which settled the matter at once’ (Bidwill 1849). Such was his determination to procure fresh seed that he had the tree felled to get the single cone it bore. Like Petrie, he appreciated the value of its timber: by the end of March he was using it to build his house (Mabberley 2002).

Bidwill was responsible for introducing the species to cultivation. He sent seed to William Macarthur at Camden Park, and an 1850 catalogue already listed available plants. In 1853 a tree was planted in the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney as part of what was to become a collection of Agathis species. He also sent seed to nurseries in London, but there is no evidence that plants were ever offered for sale in England at that time. The species was at first listed in catalogues and exhibitions as Dammara bidwillii, but Charles Moore, who succeeded Bidwill as Director of Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, later coined the name D. robusta, thus robbing his predecessor, who in 1853 and aged 38 had already met an early death, of commemoration (Mabberley 2001). Bidwill is amply commemorated in the name of the Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii), yet Agathis robusta would have been a more fitting nominal memorial to the ill‑fated botanist. Indeed, it could be argued that naming the Araucaria after Bidwill disregarded the commemoration of a more deserving candidate, Andrew Petrie, who was also the first to report seeing Bunya Pine (Petrie 1904). According to Henry Stuart Russell (1888), the species ‘got the name “pinus Petriana;” deservedly, I should have thought, but not, it seemed in accordance with the manorial rights of red-tape … the true worker’s—Petrie’s—solid claim was outbid by the less title to fame’.

The species was not formally described and named till Ferdinand von Mueller validated Dammara robusta in 1860. His publication seemed to be driven as much by commercial as botanical interest, seeking to ‘direct attention to the likelihood that its resin may prove valuable as an article or export’ and that its stem was ‘equally suitable for ships’ masts as the New Zealand [kauri]’. He described it from material in cultivation at Melbourne Botanic Gardens, where he was Director, and it is interesting to note that he found A. robusta much better adapted to the local climate than A. australis or Agathis species from New Caledonia (Mueller 1860). Though Farjon (2017) proposed that the epithet robusta may refer to the larger size of the leaves, it is more likely that Moore chose it to describe its overall robustness, as reported by Simon Grant regarding his trees at Mittagong (see above).

It was transferred to Agathis by Manson Bailey in A Synopsis of the Queensland Flora (Bailey 1883). He also praised the quality of the timber, which he described as soft and ‘largely used in joiner’s work’. Its common names take the Māori name for Agathis australis, Kauri, which has been applied in English to the genus. One of the common names of the tree, Dundathu, is a mispronunciation of its aboriginal name: Dundardum (Petrie 1904). Bidwill reported the native name as Tendara or Tendarandara (Bidwill 1849).

The name Agathis palmerstonii was applied to northern Queensland plants, originally distinguished from those of southern Queensland by their smaller, narrower, and more obtuse foliage. The difference may have been due to material being obtained from very tall trees (Mueller 1891). It was named after the explorer Christie Palmerston, who collected the type specimen. Palmerston, a legendary bushman, was the son of James Carandini, 10th Marquis of Sarzano, and Marie Burgess, an opera singer. It is not clear why he took on the surname Palmerston, but it was rumoured that his biological father was Lord Palmerston (1784–1865). His marriage certificate shows his name as Cristofero Palmerston Carandini. The epithet was chosen by Ferdinand von Mueller, and though he did not make the dedication explicit, it can be assumed that he chose to honour Christie Palmerston, named as the collector of the type. A contemporary newspaper article reported that Palmerston had collected samples and sent them to Mueller, who had informed him the species was ‘hitherto entirely unknown to science’, and that ‘out of compliment to its discoverer, Baron von Mueller has designated the new species Dammara Palmerstoni’ (Savage 1995). Mueller included the name, without description, in the Fourth Supplement of the Systematic Census of Australian Plants (1889). His description was later published almost simultaneously in two different publications, but the first to appear was in a work by F.M. Bailey (1891). Bailey’s description (as ‘A. (Dammara) palmerstoni’) is identical to the one published by Mueller (Mueller 1891; Uhlworm & Kohl 1891), as ‘Dammara palmerstoni’, and both versions end with the acknowledgement that the genus should be Agathis rather than Dammara.

References sometimes list Agathis palmerstonii with Bailey as the only author of the name, but it was undoubtedly Mueller who chose the epithet and wrote the description. The name was synonymised with A. robusta by Hyland (1978), who found that despite the disjunction in range, no taxonomic difference exists. He suggested that the species formerly had a wider, continuous distribution, but its range was reduced by unfavourable conditions, possibly a combination of climate, pests, and diseases. This synonymy was further confirmed by the analysis of resin composition, which was found to be similar in A. palmerstonii and A. robusta (Whitmore 1980). Krüssman (1985) nevertheless continued to recognise the species, distinguished from A. robusta by the smaller, narrower leaves. John Silba proposed, in his self-published ‘journal’ of photocopied typed pages distributed to botanical libraries (Farjon 2013), that the taxon be recognised as a variety in 1996 and as a subspecies in 2009, but to no avail (IPNI 2025; POWO 2026).

A subspecies found in Papua New Guinea was described as A. robusta subsp. nesophila by Whitmore in 1980 – nesophila means ‘island-loving’, in reference to its insular habitat, and is derived from the ancient Greek νῆσος (nēsos = ‘island’) and φιλεῖν (philein = ‘to love’) (Wiktionary 2026). For de Laubenfels it merited species status: his name A. spathulata was published without a Latin description by Silba in 1986, and validly published by De Laubenfels in 1988. In his description, de Laubenfels noted that the seed cone scales and the seed, though smaller, resemble A. robusta, but the pollen cone is quite different, measuring 9–12 mm in diameter (7–9 mm in A. robusta). The epithet refers to the spoon-shaped leaves, derived from Latin spathula = ‘broad, flat piece, spoon’ (Wiktionary 2026).

Agathis robusta is easily propagated from seed, which can be soaked in cold water for 24 hours to speed germination. Female cones ripen over 18 months: they emerge in winter (June-July in the southern hemisphere), are pollinated in late winter/late spring, but fertilisation does not occur till a year later. The following summer (January), the cones disintegrate on the tree, and seed falls to the ground, carried to some extent by wind by virtue of the triangular wing. When obtaining large amounts of seed is required, cones are harvested by climbers as soon as there are indications they may be mature. Intact cones are placed in a dry, shady place, and after a few days they will break open. The seed rapidly loses viability, which does not extend beyond a few weeks. Storage life can be increased by desiccating the seed and storing at below-freezing temperatures (Whitmore 1977). Fresh seed planted immediately germinates well in A. robusta, unlike A. atropurpurea and A. microstachya, which are reported to have unreliable germination (TREAT – Trees for the Evelyn and Atherton Tablelands 2026).

The most successful vegetative propagation technique is root suckers. The bottom section of a seedling’s roots can be severed, and leaf shoots will form on them. The shoots are allowed to grow to 15 cm tall and then potted up. The procedure can be repeated up to three times on the same seedling. Lateral branches of Agathis robusta are strongly plagiotropic, so air-layering and propagation from cuttings are not ideal techniques for producing trees with good vertical growth. Cuttings should be taken from a young seedling, as they prove easiest to root and more likely to produce orthotropic growth (Whitmore 1977). Parodi (1959) mentions that the species can be grafted onto rootstock of Araucaria bidwillii or A. angustifolia. Barrett (1958) points out that this practice was followed in Argentina, as the trees in cultivation in Buenos Aires do not fructify well, so the only viable alternatives for propagation were importing seed or grafting on Araucaria.

Documented pests in habitat include the seed-feeding moth Agathiphaga queenslandensis, which lays its eggs on the female cones of A. robusta. The larvae feed on the seed, in which they grow. Infected cones develop into a distorted sphere rather than their typical globose shape. In Queensland, trees are subject to attack by the Kauri Coccid (Coniferococcus agathidis), a defoliator that weakens foliage and predisposes the host to boring beetles such as Euthyrrhinus meditabundus. The Kauri Thrip (Oxythrips agathidis), also recorded from Queensland, is a less damaging defoliator but remains of note. Attacks by the coccid starting in 1959 led to the abandonment of A. robusta as a plantation tree in Queensland (Whitmore 1977).