Araucaria cunninghamii

Elizabeth farm

Colonial icons

Members of the Araucaria genus are some of the most important trees used in early colonial gardens. With their dramatic symmetry, impressive scale and distinctive foliage, these native pines played a significant role in determining the Australian landscape of the 19th century. While the Norfolk Island pine dominated coastal plantings, the hoop pine proved hardier further inland, as at Elizabeth Farm.

William Macarthur, the horticulturist son of Elizabeth Farm founders, Elizabeth and John Macarthur, listed the hoop pine for sale in every published catalogue for his nursery at Camden Park. In 1855 it was among 300 samples of Australian timbers, selected with Charles Moore, Director of the Sydney Botanic Garden, that Macarthur exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris.

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Florilegium plants

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Florilegium plants

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