'Christmas Trees' of the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney

As the end of the year draws closer, homes, shops and public areas light up with festive fun, but some of the most remarkable “Christmas trees” are quietly growing in the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. 

These towering evergreens belong to the ancient conifer family Araucariaceae, a lineage that dates back more than 200 million years. Their ancestors shaded dinosaurs, survived the breakup of Gondwana, and today stand as living reminders of Australia’s deep botanical past.

This year, we’re celebrating three spectacular species from the Araucaria, Agathis and Wollemia genera, the only surviving genera of the Araucariaceae family. These pretty pines are full of stories and make the perfect festive trio. It’s our gift to you: a chance to meet the Gardens’ very own living “Christmas trees”.

The first ‘Christmas Tree’ to check out in the Garden is the Norfolk Island Pine. You’ve probably seen them before, lining beaches from Manly in New South Wales to Cottesloe in Western Australia. 

They’re enormously tall, evergreen and fabulously festive looking. While they are such a familiar part of the Australian coastline, they aren’t native to the mainland but to a small island 1,400km east of Australia. 

This species was amongst the first plants ever installed in the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney around 200 years ago. Our much‑loved Wishing Tree is a Norfolk Island Pine too. 

The only place in the world these trees grow naturally is on the tiny 35 km2 Norfolk Island where constant salty sea spray shaped their evolution. To survive, they developed tightly packed, wax‑coated leaves that act like natural armour against harsh coastal conditions. That clever adaptation is exactly why they thrive along beaches around Australia and the world today. 

Our second “Christmas Tree” is one of the Gardens’ largest and most magnificent trees, the Queensland Kauri Pine. Look out for this straight‑trunked giant rising well above the highest fronds of the Palm Grove. 

Planted in 1853 from seed collected by Gardens Director John Carne Bidwill, this over 170-year-old tree is still only middle-aged and may live for more than 300 years. 

As a conifer, it doesn’t produce flowers but instead cones, and its large, round, smooth female cones are the inspiration for its botanical name Agathis, which in Greek means “ball of string”. 

In the wild, Queensland Kauri Pines grow in just a few pockets of Queensland, K’gari (Fraser Island) and New Guinea, making them a rare sight. 

Historically prized for their durable, insect‑resistant timber and sap used to seal or caulk up boats, they now stand as living reminders of Australia’s botanical past and the evolutionary resilience of conifers.

Did you know there’s a contemporary of dinosaurs growing in the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney? The Wollemi Pine is one of the most extraordinary botanical discoveries of the last century. With ancestors believed to have existed 200 million years ago, it was thought to be extinct for the last two million. 

That changed in 1994, when NSW National Parks officer David Noble descended into a remote gorge of Wollemi National Park searching for canyoning spots, and instead discovered a stand of strange towering conifers with bubbling “coco‑pops” bark and fern‑like foliage. 

Fewer than 100 mature trees exist in the wild, making the species critically endangered. The Botanic Gardens of Sydney has helped safeguard the Wollemi Pine for the future through research and propagation, and today cultivated plants are even available for home gardeners. 

Check out our Growing Friends Plants Sales. Growing your own is a lovely way to support its conservation, and a pretty special Christmas treat.

Together, these three species form a living triangle of ancient conifers. They’re evergreen, resilient, and full of stories that stretch from Gondwana to modern Sydney.

Whether you’re visiting the Gardens this summer, searching for a native Christmas tree for your home, or simply curious about Australia’s botanical wonders, take a moment to enjoy the unique magic of these remarkable evergreens this festive season.