Araucaria bidwillii, commonly known as the bunya pine (/ˈbʌnjə/),[4] banya[5] or bunya-bunya, is a large evergreen coniferous tree in the family Araucariaceae which is endemic to Australia.

They are very tall trees – the tallest living individual is in Bunya Mountains National Park and was reported by Robert Van Pelt in January 2003 to be 51.5 m (169 ft) in height.

[7][8][9][10] At maturity, which occurs from December through to March,[7][8] female cones are green with 50–100 pointed segments, each of which encloses a seed, and they can weigh up to 10 kg.

[19] The species was described by the English botanist William Jackson Hooker in 1843, based on material collected in the "Mount Brisbane range of hills, 70 miles N.W.

[3][20]: 498  Hooker states in his paper that Bidwill took "not only branches and cones and male flowers, but also a healthy young living plant" to England where Hooker set about describing the new species, and his paper (titled "Figure and description of a new species of Araucaria from Moreton Bay, New Holland") was published in his own journal London Journal of Botany.

[8][24] This section is thought to have been most widespread in the Mesozoic – fossils from the Jurassic period with cone morphology similar to A. bidwillii have been found in the UK (Araucaria sphaerocarpa) and South America (Araucaria mirabilis)[13] At the start of British occupation, A. bidwillii was abundant in southern Queensland, occurring in large groves or sprinkled regularly as an emergent species throughout other forest types on the upper Stanley and Brisbane Rivers, Sunshine Coast hinterland (especially the Blackall Range and Maleny), and also towards and on the Bunya Mountains.

Two more natural, but very small and very isolated, populations of the species occur approximately 1,500 km (930 mi) to the north, in the wet tropics region of northeastern Queensland – one close to Cannabullen Falls on the Atherton Tableland, and the other in the Mount Lewis National Park.

[26] The limited distribution of A. bidwillii in Australia is in part due to poor seed dispersal, and also the drying out of the Australian continent over the millennia, leading to a reduction of areas with suitable climatic zones for rainforest.

[28] The suggestion that extinct large animals (initially dinosaurs and later the Australian megafauna) may have been dispersers for the bunya is reasonable, given the size of the seeds and their energy content, but difficult to confirm given the incompleteness of the fossil record for coprolites.

[citation needed] A problem in small forestry plantations of the bunya pine in Southeast Queensland is the introduction of red deer (Cervus elaphus).

[32] In what was probably Australia's largest Indigenous event,[citation needed] diverse tribes – up to thousands of people – once travelled great distances (from as far as Charleville, Bundaberg, Dubbo and Grafton) to the gatherings.

[5][33] Representatives of many different groups from across southern Queensland and northern New South Wales would meet to discuss important issues relating to the environment, social relationships, politics and The Dreaming lore, feasting and sharing dance ceremonies.

Government Gazette which prohibited settlers from occupying land or cutting timber within a proclaimed "Bunya district".

[39][40] Indigenous Australians eat the nut of the bunya tree (known as yenggi Aboriginal pronunciation: [jeŋgi][5]) both raw and cooked, and also in its immature form.

Traditionally, the nuts were additionally ground and made into a paste, which was eaten directly or cooked in hot coals to make bread called manu.

Apart from consuming the nuts, Indigenous Australians ate bunya shoots, and utilised the tree's bark as kindling.

Some farmers in the Wide Bay/ Sunshine Coast regions have experimented with growing bunya trees commercially for their nuts and timber.

Bunya timber was and is still highly valued as "tonewood" for stringed instruments' sound boards since the first European settlers.

The nutritional content of the bunya nut is: 40% water, 40% complex carbohydrates, 9% protein, 2% fat, 0.2% potassium, 0.06% magnesium.

[citation needed] In the highly variable Australian climate, the varied timing of emergence of the seedlings maximises the possibility of at least successful replacement of the parent tree.

[41] Once established, bunyas are quite hardy and they can be grown as far south as Hobart in Australia (42° S) and Christchurch in New Zealand (43° S)[42] and (at least) as far north as Sacramento in California (38° N)[43] and Coimbra (in the botanical garden) and even in Dublin area in Ireland (53ºN) in a microclimate protected from arctic winds and moderated by the Gulf Stream.

The cones—which can grow to as much as 35 centimetres (14 in) in diameter when mature, and weigh up to 10 kilograms (22 lb)—can drop on unsuspecting passersby from heights of 40 metres (130 ft) or more.

[49] The tree, known as "El Pino" ("the pine" in Spanish), has become famous from this association, and is visited by international fans of the film.