156 A HANDBOOK OF CONIFER.E 



has met with a great measure of success. In Australia the best 

 trees are said to be found along the watercourses, but the most 

 serviceable timber is produced by trees on drier ridges. The 

 wood of fallen trees is said to decay quickly, leaving the cylinder 

 of bark intact. A tree over 50 ft. high may be seen in the 

 Temperate House at Kew ; the tufted habit of the branches 

 has been more highly developed by necessary pruning. 



Baker and Smith, Pines of Aust/ralia, 318 (1910). 



Araucaria excelsa, R. Brown. (Fig. 30.) 

 Norfolk Island Pine. 



A very beautiful tree, 150-200 ft. high, with a trunk 5-7 

 ft. in diameter. Main branches horizontal, in regular whorls, 

 lateral branchlets horizontal or pendent. Outer hark peeling off 

 in thin flakes. Leaves of two kinds, those on juvenile or lateral 

 branchlets soft, awl-like, incurved, bright green, up to \ in, 

 long ; those of older and fertile shoots dense, overlapping, broadly 

 ovate, up to ^ in. long and i\-\ in. wide at the base, with an 

 incurved horny point, the whole leaf system coarser than in A. 

 Coolcii. Cones often broader than long, 3-4 in. by 3-|-4| in. 

 Seeds \-\^ in. long and \ in. wide, exclusive of well developed 

 wings, the apex of each scale being a soft, flat, triangular spine 

 |-| in. long and less than \ in. wide at the base. 



Several forms have been given varietal names, but they do 

 not appear to be very distinct. 



Var. albo-spica. 

 Leaves and shoots silver- variegated. 



Var. gracilis. 



More compact than the type ; a cultivated variety often 

 utiUzed as a pot plant. 



Var. Leopoldii. 

 Foliage compact glaucous green. 



Var. Muelleri. 

 A free-growing, vigorous plant. 



Var. Silver Star. 



Tips of shoots silvery. 



Var. virgata. 



Shoots long and whip-like. 



A. excelsa is most nearly allied to A. Cookii, from which it 

 differs in its more plumose habit and coarser foliage. 



