Agathis

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Divisio: Tracheophyta
Divisio: Pinophyta
Classis: Pinopsida
Ordo: Pinales

Familia: Araucariaceae
Genus: Agathis
Species: A. alba – A. atropurpurea – A. australis - A. borneensis – A. dammara – A. flavescens – A. kinabaluensis – A. labillardieri – A. lanceolata – A. lenticula – A. macrophylla – A. microstachya – A. montana – A. moorei – A. orbicula – A. ovata – A. robusta – A. silbae

Paleospecies: †A. brevigongylodes - †A. levantensis - †A. vittatus

Agathis Salisb. Trans. Linn. Soc. London 8: 311. (1807) nom. cons.

Type species: Agathis dammara (Lamb.) Rich. & A. Rich. Comm. Bot. Conif. Cycad. 83, pl. 19. (1826)

Synonyms

Heterotypic
Dammara Link, Enum. Hort. Berol. Alt. 2: 411. (1822) nom. illeg. hom.
Salisburyodendron A.V.Bobrov & Melikyan, Komarovia 4: 62. (2006)

References

Salisbury, R.A. 1807. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 8: 311. BHL
Eagle, M.K. 2009. Fossil Agathis (Araucariaceae) in New Zealand. Pp. 29-30 in Bieleski, R.L. & Wilcox, M.D. (eds.) 2009: Araucariaceae: proceedings of the 2002 Araucariaceae symposium, Araucaria-Agathis-Wollemia, International Dendrology Society. Auckland, New Zealand, 14-17 March 2002. International Dendrology Society: Dunedin, New Zealand. ISBN 978-0-473-15226-0. Reference page. Reference page.
Christenhusz, M.J.M., Reveal, J.L., Farjon, A., Gardner, M.F., Mill, R.R. & Chase, M.W. 2011. A new classification and linear sequence of extant gymnosperms. Phytotaxa 19: 55–70. DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.19.1.3 Open access Reference page.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2016. Agathis in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2016 Jan. 1. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2016. Agathis. Published online. Accessed: Jan. 1 2016.
Tropicos.org 2014. Agathis. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2014 Mar. 22.

Vernacular names
English: Dammar, Kauri
Esperanto: Agatido
español: Agathis
suomi: Kaurit
magyar: Kaurifenyő, dammarafenyő
македонски: Каури

Agathis, commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of 22 species of evergreen tree. The genus is part of the ancient conifer family Araucariaceae, a group once widespread during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, but now largely restricted to the Southern Hemisphere except for a number of extant Malesian Agathis.[1][2]

Description

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Bark of Agathis robusta at Melbourne Royal Botanic Gardens (leaves belong to another plant)

Mature kauri trees have characteristically large trunks, forming a trunk with little or no branching below the crown. In contrast, young trees are normally conical in shape, forming a more rounded or irregularly shaped crown as they achieve maturity.[3]

The bark is smooth and light grey to grey-brown, usually peeling into irregular flakes that become thicker on more mature trees. The branch structure is often horizontal or, when larger, ascending. The lowest branches often leave circular branch scars when they detach from the lower trunk.

The juvenile leaves in all species are larger than the adult, more or less acute, varying among the species from ovate to lanceolate. Adult leaves are opposite, elliptical to linear, very leathery and quite thick. Young leaves are often a coppery-red, contrasting markedly with the usually green or glaucous-green foliage of the previous season.

The male pollen cones appear usually only on larger trees after seed cones have appeared. The female seed cones usually develop on short lateral branchlets, maturing after two years. They are normally oval or globe shaped.

Seeds of some species are attacked by the caterpillars of Agathiphaga, some of the most primitive of all living moths.
Uses
Kauri logs and loggers near Piha

Various species of kauri give diverse resins such as kauri gum. The timber is generally straight-grained and of fine quality with an exceptional strength-to-weight ratio and rot resistance, making it ideal for yacht hull construction. The wood is commonly used in the manufacture of guitars and ukuleles due to its low density and relatively low price of production. It is also used for some Go boards (goban). The uses of the New Zealand species (A. australis) included shipbuilding, house construction, wood panelling, furniture making, mine braces, and railway sleepers. Due to the hard resin of the wood, it was the traditionally preferred material used by Māori for wooden weapons, patu aruhe (fernroot beaters) and barkcloth beaters.[4]
Species list

Accepted species[1]

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
	Agathis atropurpurea	black kauri, blue kauri	Queensland, Australia
	Agathis australis	kauri, New Zealand kauri	North Island, New Zealand
	Agathis borneensis		western Malesia, Borneo
	Agathis corbassonii	red kauri	New Caledonia
	Agathis dammara (syn. A. alba, A. celebica, A. loranthifolia)	Bindang	eastern Malesia
	Agathis flavescens		Peninsular Malaysia
	Agathis jurassica
	Agathis kinabaluensis		Borneo
	Agathis labillardieri		New Guinea
	Agathis lanceolata		New Caledonia
	Agathis lenticula		Borneo
	Agathis macrophylla (syn. A. vitiensis)	Pacific kauri, dakua	Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands
	Agathis microstachya	bull kauri	Queensland, Australia
	Agathis montana		New Caledonia
	Agathis moorei	white kauri	New Caledonia
	Agathis orbicula		Borneo
	Agathis ovata		New Caledonia
	Agathis philippinensis		Philippines, Sulawesi
	Agathis robusta	Queensland kauri	Queensland, Australia; New Guinea
	Agathis silbae		Vanuatu
	Agathis spathulata	New Guinea kauri	Papua New Guinea
	Agathis zamunerae		Patagonia, South America Argentina

Formerly included[1]

Moved to Nageia

Agathis motleyi - Nageia motleyi
Agathis veitchii - Nageia nagi

References

Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
de Laubenfels, David J. 1988. Coniferales. P. 337–453 in Flora Malesiana, Series I, Vol. 10. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.
Whitmore, T.C. 1977. A first look at Agathis. Tropical Forestry Papers No. 11. University of Oxford Commonwealth Forestry Institute.
Neich, Roger (1996). "New Zealand Maori Barkcloth and Barkcloth Beaters". Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum. 33: 111–158. ISSN 0067-0464.