CHAP. CXIII. CONI'FER^, ARAUCA^RIA. 2437 



accompanied the expedition, procured cones, seeds from which he sowed on 

 board the ship, and brought home living plants, which he presented to Sir 

 Joseph Banks, who planted one of them in his own garden at Spring Grove, 

 and sent the others to Kew. From this circumstance, the tree was called at 

 first, in England, Sir Joseph Banks's pine. The tree at Kew was kept in the 

 green-house till about 1806 or 1808, when it was planted out where it now 

 stands, by Mr. M'Nab, the present superintendent of the Edinburgh Botanic 

 Garden. After it was planted out, not being considered quite hardy, it was 

 protected, during winter, with a temporary frame, covered with mats ; and, 

 having become habituated to this mode of treatment, it has been considered 

 unsafe to leave it off. The species is, however, now found quite hardy at 

 Dropmore, and other places ; and we have no doubt that, as soon as plants 

 can be procured from seed at a reasonable rate, it will be as generally planted 

 as the cedar of Lebanon, or the deodar, and will be found to be quite as hardy 

 as these trees. 



The Araucaria imbricata was introduced into France before 1822, and was 

 treated there as a hot-house plant. Dr. Poeppig, who introduced it into 

 Germany, gives the following description of the difficulty which attended his 

 procuring seeds : — " We were obliged to seek water at a considerable distance 

 from our bivouac ; but, our frugal supper not requiring much cooking, we 

 soon stretched ourselves on the hard rock to sleep, under the lullaby of a 

 storm, to which the lofty summits above us imparted the most singular tones. 

 All of us who had been accustomed to such primitive beds might have rested 

 well enough, if a fog had not descended upon us about midnight, which was 

 so dense as nearly to extinguish our fire. Matters became still worse, when 

 violent thunder and hail apprised us that not even a forest of araucarias 

 could shelter the traveller from the wrath of the Cordillera. We all trembled ; 

 my companions, however, chiefly from fear and superstition ; though the tem- 

 perature was sufficiently low to occasion a shudder in thinly clad travellers. 

 The anxiously looked-for morning brought a brighter sky, and the means of 

 kindling a cheerful and genial fire. A young man, who had joined us the 

 preceding day, succeeded (by means of his lasso, which he threw over one of 

 the lowest branches) in ascending a tree, from which he brought down many 

 branches, loaded with their truly colossal fruit, which have since arrived 

 safely in Germany." (Peeppig^s Travels in the Peruvian Andes, as quoted in 

 Comp. Bot. Mag., vol. i. p. 355.) " The reason," he adds, " why many of 

 the seeds of the araucaria that have been sent to Europe did not vegetate is, 

 because the collectors did not procure them from the Indian country, but 

 bought them in the market at Valparaiso, where they are offered for sale 

 boiled and dried. My excursion to Quillay-Leuvu obtained for me fresh 

 seeds of the araucaria, which reached Germany in October, 1829, being seven 

 months after they were ripe ; and, being sowed immediately, the period was 

 just that of the Chilian spring. Of some hundreds, about 30 came up; but 

 ignorance of the true climate, which led to the error of placing the young 

 plants in a hot-house, killed the greater part during the first year. To my 

 great satisfaction, however, about six individual plants have been preserved 

 in different places. The specimen in the Botanic Garden at Leipzic flou- 

 rishes beautifully : it is (? 1832) about 1 ft. 8 in. high, and already bears 

 four long branches in whorls." (Ibid.) 



Projierties and Uses. Don Joseph Pavon describes the wood of this tree 

 as of a yellowish white, fibrous, and full of beautiful veins, capable of beina 

 polished and worked with facility. He also states that it is well adapted for 

 ship-building, as was proved by the experiments of Don Francisco Denda- 

 riarena, in 1780. The resin, abounding in all parts of the tree, is white : its 

 smell is like that of frankincense, and its taste not unpleasant. It is applied 

 as a plaster to contusions, and for various medical purposes. The Indians 

 consider the fruit as a very nourishing food : they eat it raw, as well as 

 boiled and roasted ; and they distil from it a kind of spirituous liquor. They 

 have stated times to collect the fruit, which they preserve to make use of a« 



7 s 4 



