Three giant pine cones have been removed from bunya pine trees in Warragul and Drouin.
Image: contractors inspecting trees in Warragul. Supplied anonymously by a Baw Baw Citizen reader.
Bunya pines are notorious for their huge pine cones, which can be lethal when they fall from the tall trees.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Baw Baw Shire Council inspects bunya pines at four sites every year for cones. Most sites are on public land (Civic Park and Kones Reserve in Warragul and Rees Close in Drouin), although the council also maintains the tree outside Warragul’s The Courthouse bar and restaurant “due to its significance and its proximity to surrounding infrastructure.”
Image: one of the Couthouse cones from 2012. Supplied by Baw Baw Shire Council.
“As part of our annual inspection of the bunyas [in December], our contractor found one cone in the Courthouse tree and two cones in the Rees Close tree”, a Baw Baw Shire spokesperson told the Baw Baw Citizen.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The three cones removed this year were between 17 and 20 cm in diameter.”
In March 2012, the Courthouse tree began dropping 10kg pine cones from its canopy 20 metres above ground, resulting in part of Smith Street’s footpath being closed until crews could remove them all.
Do you know what is happening to the seeds?