ARAUCARIA 1MBR1CATA. 



299 



Araucaria imbricata was discovered in 1780 by Don Francisco 

 Dendariarena, a Spaniard who was at that time officially employed to 

 ascertain if any timber suitable for ship-building was procurable in 

 southern Chile. It was also found very shortly afterwards by 

 Drs. Ruiz and Pavon, two Spanish botanists who went out to Peru in 

 1777 to investigate the forests of that country, with the special 

 object of collecting information respecting the Cinchona or Peruvian 

 Bark, and who subsequently extended their explorations further south. 

 They were accompanied by a French gentleman named Dombey, but 

 he returned to Europe after a short stay, and before Ruiz and Pavon 

 sailed for Chile. It was to him that Ruiz and Pavon sent the 

 first dried specimens of the Araucaria received in Europe, and by him 



these were submitted to the 

 eminent botanist, Lamarck, who 

 named the tree Dombey a chil- 

 ensis, and thus Dombey's name 

 became associated with the 

 synonymy of the tree. In 

 1795, Captain Vancouver reached 

 the coast of Chile, when Mr. 

 Archibald Menzies, who accom- 

 panied him in the capacity of 

 botanist, procured some cones 

 and seeds, and also some young 

 plants, which he succeeded in 

 bringing home alive. He pre- 

 sented these to Sir Joseph 

 Banks, who planted one in his 

 own garden, and sent the others 

 to the Royal Gardens at Kew, 

 where they were at first kept 

 in a greenhouse. About the 

 year 1808 one of them was 

 planted out on what is now 

 called Lawn L, where for 

 many years it grew slowly, but 

 was once a superb tree ; 

 eventually it lingered on as 

 ma imbricata. a mere botanical curiosity till 

 the autumn of 1892, when it 

 died.* 



For many years after Menzies' introduction Araucaria imbricata 

 continued to be very scarce in England; seeds could not be obtained, 

 and the small quantity that reached this country from time to time, 

 failed to germinate. It was not till 1844 that William Lobb, while 

 collecting in South America for the Yeitchian firm, succeeded in 

 penetrating the Araucaria forests, and brought home the first large 

 supply of seed received in England, and from which very many of the 

 fine - specimens now growing in various parts of the country originated. 

 It is worthy of note that Araucaria imbricata is the only true 

 coniferous tree inhabiting the southern hemisphere that has attained a 



Fig. 90. Ovuliferous flower of A 

 Nat. size. 



* Kew Bulletin, 1893, p. 24. 



