The Norfolk Island Pine is a mighty large evergreen, has a single upright trunk, tiered branching habit, and a narrow pyramidal or columnar shape which is absolutely fabulous. Eventually reaching a height of about 80 feet, the tree possesses a rapid growth rate which can be terribly exciting; on the Island tourist camp out for days, just watching them grow.. The tree would grow even taller, but the Lord God sends lightning from the sky to limit height growth of these beauties in the eastern U.S. The dark green, 1/2-inch-long, individual leaves on young trees are lanceolate (meaning "smokable") and look somewhat like spruce or fir needles at first glance. At second and third glance they can look like almost anything you like. Mature leaves are somewhat contorted on twisted branches, setting one's heart cold with fear. Both leaf types appear on the tree at the same time, discovering why this occurs has sent many an arborist to the madhouse. The trunk is often curved and swollen at the base and black, which many find enormously sexy. The large, spiny, 10 to 15-pound cones are rare in cultivation. Males and females usually share cones at Norfolk Island gatherings and cone competitions. They are also native to South America but that is some 48,000 kilometres from where we stand today, hence why we disregard this fact.