44 "The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



ARAUCARIA IMBRICATA, Chilean Araucaria 



Araucaria imbricata, Pavon; in Mem. Acad. Med. Madrid, i. 199 (1797); Lambert, Genus Pinus, 

 106, t. 56, 57 (1832); Loudon, Arb. et. Frut. Brit. iv. 2432 (1844); Kent in VeitcKs Man. 

 Coniferce, ed. 2, 297 (1900). 



Araucaria Dombeyi, A. Rich. Conif. 86, t 20 (1826). 



Araucaria ckiiensis, Mirb., Mem. Mus. Par. xiii. 49 (1825). 



Araucaria araucana, C. Koch, Dendr. ii. 206 (1873). 



Pinus araucana, Molina, Sagg. Storia Nat. Chile, 182 (1782). 



Dombeya ckiiensis, Lamarck, Eneycl. ii. 301 (1786). 

 Araucaria imbricata is the oldest name under the correct genus Araucaria, and is, moreover, the one 

 most generally used. Pifwn is the Spanish name in Chile, Pelmen the Indian name. 



Araucaria imbricata is a tree usually 50 to 100 feet high,' with a cylindrical stem, 

 only slightly tapering in adult trees, and attaining 3 to 5 feet in diameter. The 

 bark is very rough and divided into large thick irregularly pentagonal or hexagonal 

 scales. The branches, in whorls of 6 or 7, are at first very spreading, and in 

 young or isolated individuals persist for a long time, but in the forest generally fall 

 off until a broad umbrella-shaped crown of very crowded branches remains. In 

 certain cases,* secondary shoots appear on the trunk among the older branches as 

 they die off. 



Leaves : all of one kind, spirally crowded on the branches, sessile, coriaceous, 

 rigid, ovate-lanceolate, with a sharp point at the apex, slightly concave on the upper 

 surface, glabrous, bright shining green, marked with longitudinal lines, bearing 

 stomata on both surfaces, margins cartilaginous; persistent for 10 or 15 years, 

 withering during the later period of their life ; their remains may be seen for a long 

 time on the trunk and branches as narrow transverse ridges. 



Male flowers : catkins almost cylindrical in shape, solitary or 2 to 6 in a 

 cluster, terminal, sessile, erect, 3 to 5 inches long, yellow in colour, composed of 

 densely packed anther scales, the tips of which afe sharply pointed and recurved ; 

 pollen sacs 6 to 9. The male flowers frequently remain intact on the tree for 

 several years ; they generally in Europe appear early in spring, the pollen escaping 

 in June or July. 



Female flowers : ovoid, solitary, terminal, erect, about 3 inches long, composed 

 of numerous wedge-shaped scales, terminating in long, narrow, brittle points. 



Cones : globular, brown in colour, 4 to 6 inches in diameter, falling to pieces 

 when the seeds are ripe (in England in late summer, in Chile in January or 

 February). The cones take two years to ripen, fertilisation occurring in the second 

 year in June or July, when the scales open and expose the ovule to the pollen blown 

 from neighbouring staminate trees. Three months after fertilisation the seeds are 

 fully matured. 



Seeds : adnate to the scale and falling with it, i to i^ inch long, wingless, 

 covered by a thick brown coat. There are about 300 seeds in a cone. 



' I have seen in Chile trees exceeding even 100 feet in height. (H. J. E.) 

 ' Such a case exists in a large tree at Tortworth Court. (H. J. E.) 



