Buckinghamia is an ornamental and timber tree native to Australia, its natural range limited to small areas of humid tropical forest in the north-east of the continent.
It is a tall tree in closely spaced forests, reaching heights of up to 30 m (100 ft) with a straight, buttressed trunk up to 40 cm (1.3 ft) in diameter supporting a narrow crown. On open sites, it is more typically 5 to 10 m (15 to 30 ft) tall with a densely branched rounded crown.
The bark on young trees is grey and smooth, with age becoming rough, thick and fissured. Growth is moderate to fast, depending on the growing conditions.
The leaves are bronze-red or pink-tinged when young becoming dark glossy green above, greyish underneath and have a tough, leathery texture. They change shape as they mature, from deeply lobed in juvenile form to entire, elongated-oval at maturity and remain on the tree throughout the year.
The flowers are cream white tubes coiled at the tip, closely arranged in bottle-brush-like flower spikes up to 25 cm (10 in) long. They come into bloom in summer in its native range, over a period lasting four to six week.