Just in Time: Searching for the King Billy Pine and the Pencil Pine
The Australian Seed Bank Partnership had a small window to secure seed from these iconic species that only fruit every 5-7 years
By Australian Seed Bank Partnership
Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre, Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens
Cones on pencil Pine (2015) by Royal Tasmanian Botanical GardensAustralian Seed Bank Partnership
Timing is everything
Some trees only produce seeds when conditions are right. The tree is at correct maturity, there is adequate sunlight, sufficient moisture, proper pollination by wind, and suitable temperatures. This is true of two iconic but vulnerable conifer trees, Athrotaxis cupressoides (Pencil pine)...
King Billy at Moores Bridge (2015) by Royal Tasmanian Botanical GardensAustralian Seed Bank Partnership
Tall King Billy
... and Athrotaxis selaginoides (King Billy pine). The larger of the two, it reaches a height of 40 metres. It has tiny, needle-like leaves, a centimetre long. The leaves spiral around branches, growing longer in the shade than leaves exposed to full sun.
Pencil pine
The smaller A. cupressoides reaches 15 metres but grows very slowly, increasing its diameter by only a centimetre each year.
Conifer collecting at Lonely Tarns (2015) by Royal Tasmanian Botanical GardensAustralian Seed Bank Partnership
Ancient but dwindling
The King Billy and Pencil pines are primitive species, a relic from past cooler climates. These ancient species are now declining in numbers due to logging, fires and climate change.
Challenges for seed collectors
Seed collectors wait 5-7 years for these species to ‘mast’, and produce fruit (cones). In 2015, in a race against time to pick the fruit while it was ripe, 20 people travelled to 14 locations around Tasmania.
King Billy collection Lonely Tarns (2015) by Royal Tasmanian Botanical GardensAustralian Seed Bank Partnership
It's a stretch
On finding the trees, reaching the seeds presents another problem. Reaching the cones from the ground is impossible. Seed collectors have to target smaller King Billy pine trees where they can snip off cones using pole loppers or secateurs.
Athrotaxis selaginoides harvest (2015) by Royal Tasmanian Botanical GardensAustralian Seed Bank Partnership
Fruitful
Typically, a quarter of seeds in pine cones are empty. In terms of viable seeds, the 2015 trip returned over 600,000 Pencil pine seeds and almost 300,000 King Billy pine seeds. Establishing seed collections provides an insurance policy against future loss of these trees, conserving Tasmania's unique ancient floral heritage.
Lake Hansen Pines (2015) by Royal Tasmanian Botanical GardensAustralian Seed Bank Partnership
The 2020 Masting
When the National Parks were closed due to the pandemic, curator, James Wood, and a local hiking guide ventured along the Overland Track for 5 days. They increased seed collections for threatened species but saw no other humans except the odd park ranger.
Genetic variety
Following the Global Tree Project, seed from threatened trees continue to be collected, to increase genetic variability in seed banks.
Tree preservation for the future
Seeds from King Billy pine, Pencil Pine and other threatened tree species, native to Tasmania are being securely stored at the Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre and the Millennium Seed Bank in the UK.
Learn more about the Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre.
Stories compiled through a science communication internship at the Australian Seed Bank Partnership with Master of Science Communication student Christine Fernance from the ANU Centre for the Public Awareness of Science.
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