Araucaria columnaris Cook pine

Norfolk Island pine at Sequoia Hall. Sairus Patel, 12 Mar 2024

Usually sold as Norfolk Island pine or star pine (A. heterophylla) as a Christmas tree, this species almost always leans southwards (or northwards, in the southern hemisphere) as it grows, which is an easy way to distinguish it from the true Norfolk Island pine, which is very upright. In both species, the twigs around which the needles are arrayed are arranged in two ranks on the branches, but in Cook pine the twigs are a bit more haphazard, whereas in the Norfolk Island they more regularly point upwards.

Campus’s most prominent specimen is to the right of the entrance of Sequoia Hall. It had been grown in a pot indoors in a Packard Building office, then transfered to the second floor lobby when it outgrew that space, and was finally planted in the ground in 2006. Its trunk exhibits a curious curvature along with the expected lean; it had been rotated when potted in an attempt to keep it upright.

A younger specimen reaches for the sun in the Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden, near the midpoint of its western edge. A 25-foot multitrunked specimen is at 924 Mears Court.