Afrocarpus falcatus (Thunb.) C.N.Page

Tall tree generally 10-25 m high but attaining a height of 60 m with a clean bole of more than 20 m and a girth of about 7 m. Bark greyish to purplish, more or less smooth and persistent in young trees, flaking in rectangular to roundish pieces in older specimens. Branchlets terete or square(on juvenile specimens generally square), distinctly ridged by decurrent leaf bases. Terminal buds about 1 mm in diameter; outer bud scales very narrowly triangular, 2-2.5 mm long and about 1 mm wide. Leaves spirally arranged, on branchlets of juvenile specimens often subopposite, spreading to suberect, glaucous to yellowish-green, twisted at the base and lamina thus orientated in a more or less vertical plane, narrowly linear-lanceolate to linear-elliptic, falcate to straight, acute to obtuse; adult leaves(1-)2-4(-4.5)cm long and(1.2-)2-4(-6)mm wide; juvenile leaves up to 12 cm long and 0-6 cm wide; midrib slightly raised on lower surface, very slightly raised on upper surface; stomata present on both surfaces, arranged in 14-20 ± distinct longitudinal lines on either side of midrib. Male cones solitary or in groups of 2-4, subsessile to very shortly stalked, 5-13 mm long, elongating up to 15 mm after shedding pollen,(2-)3(-3.5)mm in diameter, brownish; outer sterile scales at base very broadly triangular-trullate to very broadly obovate, crenulate to denticulate, 0.5-1 mm long and 1-1.5 mm wide; terminal lobe of fertile scales very broadly triangular-trullate, 0.6-0.8 mm long and 0.8-1.4 mm wide, crenulate to lacerate; pollen sacs 0.6-0.7 mm long and about 0.3-0.4 mm in diameter. Female cones solitary on scaly or leafy branches 7-27 mm long and 1.5-2.5 mm in diameter, widest at the top just below seed; only the terminal scale fertile. Seed sub-spherical to obovoid,(1.2-)1.3-1.7(-1.8)cm long, glaucous to greyish-green, ripening to a yellowish or light reddish-brown colour; testa consisting of outer somewhat fleshy covering up to 3 mm thick which becomes very resinous inwards, and inside this a sub-spherical, somewhat laterally compressed tubercled kernel 1-1.2(-1.4)cm long with hard woody walls(0.8-)1-1.7(-2)mm thick.

It is a subtropical plant. It grows in mountain forest. It grows between 1,250-2,700 m above sea level. It can grow in arid places. It suits hardiness zones 9-11. Hobart Botanical gardens. Melbourne Botanical gardens. Wittunga Botanical Gardens. Arboretum Tasmania.

An edible oil is extracted from the seeds. The ripe fruit is eaten. They are resinous.

Plants can be grown from fresh seed. The fleshy layer is removed. The fresh cones are collected and the flesh removed. The seed are sown into nursery bags. Seeds germinate erratically and can take 6 months. Seedlings need to be transplanted carefully to protect the taproot.