A Blog by John Halkett

Month: August 2016

Radiata pine – ‘super wood’ of the 21st century

Pine plantations began to be established in Australia from the 1870s as insurance against diminishing supplies of timber from native forests. Early attempts to find suitable pine plantation species for Australian conditions gave rise to planting trials using a wide variety of species. Pines from north and central America, Europe and the Mediterranean, from the Himalayas and Eastern Asia were all tried.

While several showed promise, the most successful was Monterey or radiata pine. This species grows naturally only in three small localities on the central Californian coast, in an area … Read more “Radiata pine – ‘super wood’ of the 21st century”

Buttress roots in Brunei

Been working in Brunei Darussalam recently, including having a look around the Temburong National Park. The park is notable for its extensive pristine tropical forest on hill country, with some interesting inhabitants, including the endangered Proboscis monkey. The trees in the park are numerous in terms of numbers of species and size. The average height of the taller trees rarely exceeds 50 to 60 metres, though individual trees may grow up to 90 metres tall.

Buttress roots are a fascinating feature in tropical forests and I saw some great examples in Brunei. Unlike temperate forests where… Read more “Buttress roots in Brunei”

© 2024 Talking Trees

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑