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Athrotaxis selaginoides
Also called King William Pine, King Billy
King Billy pine is a large, long-lived conifer from the mountains of western Tasmania, grown as an ornamental tree in cool, wet, northwestern European climates. It needs cool, moist conditions, and it is rarely grown outside those.
Athrotaxis selaginoides is a species of conifer in the cypress family, Cupressaceae, endemic to Tasmania, where it grows in mountainous areas at 400–1,120 m elevation. Snow frequently falls here in the colder months, though possible all year round. It is often called King Billy pine or King William pine (believed to be in reference to William Lanne, an Aboriginal Tasmanian man), although it is not a true pine.
Examples of the species can be viewed at The Tasmanian Arboretum.
Away from its native range, it is occasionally cultivated as an ornamental tree in northwestern Europe. Bedgebury National Pinetum has about fifty trees in its collection, the most of them planted in the Conifer Conservation Project Area.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Athrotaxis selaginoides by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
