by
T.C. Whitmore
Commonwealth Forestry Institute
Oxford University
Work has been in progress since 1974 to explore the potential of the genus Agathis as a fast growing tree to produce a high value, high quality timber.
Agathis, a conifer related to Araucaria, has about 13 species. These occur from Sumatra and the Malay peninsula eastwards to Fiji, with southern outliers in northern New Zealand, (A. australis, Kauri Pine) and Queensland (A. robusta, A. microstachya, A. atropurpurea). Throughout its range Agathis occurs mainly as scattered small groups or single trees. The timber is more valuable than most others and everywhere it occurs loggers seek Agathis out. It is well known to foresters for its huge, cylindrical bole, its deep, narrow crown in youth, its timber and for its resin, which is marketed as Manila Copal. The timber is pale, light but strong and knot free and is suitable for many uses, for example for pattern making, artificial limbs, furniture, as an attractive peeled veneer and for boat building.
Many small trials of open-planted plots and under-plantings have been made. There are commercial plantations in Irian Jaya (for Copal), in Java and formerly in south Queensland. In Java establishment is mainly by taungya. Agathis has been limited in use by shortage of seed and by the slow growth and difficulty of establishment of some species. In addition, seed loses viability rapidly and cannot be stored for more than a few weeks.
Research based at Oxford has involved examination of Agathis throughout its range both in the natural forest and in cultivation. Agathis has very diverse ecology. It has been possible to identify several species and provenances which grow fast and are relatively easy to establish. Work in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew has led to discovery of a simple technique of desiccation followed by low-temperature storage which extends seed life to several years. The use of resin composition as an indicator of provenance is being investigated, with promising results. The seriousness of genetic erosion of the diversity of Agathis as it is progressively, and in some cases selectively, logged has been discovered.
Agathis is shown by this work to be potentially useful in humid tropical climates mainly for plantations, but in certain economic conditions for line-planting, as a moderately fast-growing conifer yielding a light, pale, long-fibred, valuable timber.
A monograph in the Commonwealth Forestry Institute series of Tropical Forestry Papers is to be published in 1977. Details of the seed storage technique will also be published after one more experiment, which it is hoped to conduct in 1977.
