Attack of the Killer Pine Cones

[ysabetwordsmith]

Everything is bigger in Australia.  In this case, 20-pound pinecones falling from on high can injure or kill people underneath.

Who else is thinking it would be fun to drop one on the Spectrum?  Because obviously they're not going to mind the signs.  :D

Comments

[lone_cat]

Does it grow in the part of Australia they're in?

Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I don't know and would have to check. However, it is likely they will be traveling.

Re: Hmm...

[moonvoice]

It naturally only grows in two relatively small regions (in the subtropical regions of the east coast), but Araucaria bidwillii (bunya pine - not actually a pine, and a living fossil) is also found in botanical gardens and similar (and some farms etc.) in NSW and WA, and their survival is mildly threatened by feral red deer, that stop seed dispersal (their general seed dispersant is a possum).

(I have picked up random things over the years lol).

(You can also use it to make gluten free flour/porridge/pesto/hummus!)

(Also, they don't produce those big cones every year. They have like 2/3 dormant-ish years where they make not many, and then a big bumper year of a ton of seed-cones (which was thought to be pretty amazing for local Indigenous folks back in the day as a food source). Thankfully, if you're not actually *under* the tree itself, you're not likely to get hit. They're too heavy to be blown around. And the sound of them falling tends to be broadcast by loud bangs/clattering as they hit like...all the branches on the way down, lol (mature cone producing bunya are tall). So farmers that have them on their property etc. are able to run out from under the canopy before they're hit.)

*wanders off*