Virginia Tech Dendrology

Norfolk pine Araucariaceae Araucaria heterophylla (Salisb.) Franco symbol: ARHE12
Leaf: Spirally arranged, short (1/2 inch), curved spruce-like needles, dark green above and below. Adult foliage associated with fertile branches is more scale-like, shorter and broader.
Flower: Male cones are pendant, 1 1/2 inches long; female cones broadly egg-shaped and green, at branch tips.
Fruit: A large cone, 5 inches long and 6 inches wide, cone scales bearing a recurved spine, green changing to brown.
Twig: Slender and green, covered in foliage for several years, later turning brown and retaining dead foliage.
Bark: Initially covered in dead leaves, becoming smooth and gray-brown, later rough and dark, broken into small plates.
Form: Very symmetrical, graceful, and pyramidal, with stiff main branches and drooping lateral branches. Becoming very large in its native habitat, more commonly to 50 feet as an ornamental.
Looks like: monkeypuzzle tree

Additional Range Information: Araucaria heterophylla is planted in the USDA hardiness zones shown above and is not known to widely escape cultivaton. Download the full-size PDF map.
External Links: USDA Plants Database - Horticulture Information
All material 2021 Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation; Photos and text by: John Seiler, Edward Jensen, Alex Niemiera, and John Peterson; Silvics reprinted from Ag Handbook 654; range map source information