Hoop pine is native to North Eastern Australia and New Guinea. An Australian tree, less regular in shape than other Araucaria, the wide spreading branches having tufts of leafy branchlets. It grows from sea level to over 1,000 m and has been used as a good timber for veneer, plywood and indoor use. It has been introduced into East Africa and planted in plantations at lower altitudes in central Uganda. In Kampala, Hoop pine can be found within Makerere university, Golf course club among other places.

A tall evergreen tree about 50 m high with spreading, widely spaced up-curved branches bearing dense tufts of branchlets. The trunk can reach a massive 3 m in diameter.

BARK: rough, shiny brown and flaking, hoop-like rings made by horizontal cracking.

LEAVES: young leaves rather triangular, sharply pointed 1-2 cm long, but mature leaves softer, narrow and curved inwards, overlapping, crowded along the branchlets, all dark green.

FRUIT (CONES): male "cones" soft to 7 cm long in hanging clusters, turning orange-red with pollen; female cones hard and green about 8 cm and erect, covered with scales, each with a sharp recurved tip.

Medicine: bark exudes a resin when cut. This resin can be dissolved in alcohol to treat kidney ailments. http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php id=Araucaria+cunninghamii

Agroforestry: an important plantation enrichment planting species.

The bark is heavily impregnated with resin.

The wood is suitable for timber, internal finishes for buildings, furniture and cabinet making.

The wood is an excellent veneer species and is used as such for making plywood.

It is directly or indirectly suitable for pulping through the use of wood residues.

An ornamental tree.