The Bunya Pine; The Newest, Latest of This Year's Falling Season

When I first wrote the Hub about the strange, spiky and very gangly tree in my yard, I had no idea how much interest it would stir-up! Of all of the Hubs I have published here, that one Hub gets the most read

The Bunya Pine, as I discovered in my research, is a rare tree for this part of the world; California to be exact. The tree is indigenous to Queensland, Australia. The natives considered the nuts that are found inside the "cones" to be an important part of their diet over the centuries.

The tree has some amazing, unique qualities that are not always endearing. (To read the original, complete story of our Bunya, the link is below.) The tree has razor sharp leaves that protect it, and that no tree service is willing to deal with! The smaller birds, however, love the tree and use it's protection to build their nests away from the other larger predatory birds that plague the smaller ones.

http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Bunya-Pine-Tree-Beauty-or-Deadly

When the falling season began this past September, the cones that fell were bigger and more pleantiful than ever. No cones fell last year or the year before, but this season was a whopper. As is our practice since first we saw one of the strange, huge cones in our driveway, we warn all of our friends and family not to park in the lower area below the tree; to do so could be hazardous to one's health and car, as well.

The cones break into pieces releasing the nut pods. When the cones crash to the ground, (and crash they do; loud and often!) they often break apart. We have collected the seeds for people around the country who have requested them. Why anyone would purposely plant one of these trees considering their crusty personality, but the seeds are in demand.