Norfolk Island Pines
    Araucaria heterophylla

Araucaria heterophylla (Norfolk Island Pine or Star Pine) is a native of, naturally, Norfolk Island, a small (3 x 5 mile) island in the South Pacific, off the east coast of Australia & north of New Zealand. This beautifully graceful, symmetrical plant is often sold as an interior plant, especially around Christmas. Inside the home, Norfolk Island Pines require high light environments, like being kept slightly moist (NOT WET / NEVER BONE DRY), and can grow for many years without the need to be repotted. They do have a somewhat weak root system (hence the potential over- / under-watering warning, and plants may require 'staking' for added support at times. Inside, trees can occasionally reach 10 feet or more, over many years. Outside in the landscape, the Norfolk Island Pine can grow to 200 feet in it's native land. In Florida, they generally are seen up to 50+ feet in height with a spread of up to 25+ feet at the bottom, and it prefers full sun but can tolerate some shade. They can normally withstand temperatures down to about 40 degrees (zone 10-11), are quite salt tolerant, can tolerate acid soil conditions, and you can occasionally use a general fertilizer for feeding.

Some other interesting facts: besides being a striking landscape plant, the wood is used in various ways, originally for boat-building, carving, bowls, etc. (The presence of many knots in its wood make for magnificent patterns in the wood graining.) In Hawaii, they have been grown in combination with Macadamia trees. This benefits both species, as the N. I. P. shelters the Macadamia trees from winds that could knock off its valuable fruit before it matures, and the unharvested fruit & leaves from the Macadamias add nutrients to the soil for both species. Also, while the Norfolk's seeds are harvested from their cones for sales to nurseries, the seeds that do fall have an ideal soil condition to sprout, thanks to the Macadamia tree. These seedlings are also gathered for sales to nurseries. The Araucaria genus has several species that are 'cousins' of the Norfolk Island Pine, too. One from Australia, A. bidwillii / Monkey Puzzle, is an unusually shaped, rounder tree with very prickly needles that dates to prehistoric times. Yet another 'cousin' is the Cook Pine / A. columnaris from (OK, are you ready) Cook Island, is very similar to the N. I. P., but tall & quite thin. Another even more distant (second-cousin?) is Dawn Redwood or Metasequoia glyptostroboides (yes, quite a mouthful to say). An ancient native of China, it is one of the very few known deciduous conifers. (That means it looses its needles / foliage in winter but is still in the same family as Pines, Spruces, etc.) A little closer to home, very old relatives of Norfolk Island Pines) dating back about 200 million years ago) can be found in the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.