Huon Pine

The Lagarostrobos franklinii is only found growing in the temperate rainforests of southwest Tasmania, the Huon Pine is the second tallest tree in the world.

The tree can live up to 2500 years but it grows very slowly at only one millimetre of girth per year, and only begins to reproduce at around 600-800 years' old.

This majestic tree has an incredible sappy perfume from a high oil content, which means the honey gold timber can be bent, sculpted, shaped and worked. It's also waterproof and its sap repels insects. The tree's massive size and pliability made the Huon Pine prized timber for the shipbuilders in Tasmania's early settlement days. As a result, it has almost been timbered to extinction.

Efforts are now underway to conserve this important species.