The Genus Araucaria. 421 



which is very remarkable, but in the character of its leaves." 

 The branches are much more drooping than those of A. excelsa, 

 and very lax as compared with that species. On the young 

 twigs the leaves are very minute, gradually developing them- 

 selves till they attain maturity, when they become slightly 

 imbricated. The branches are given off in whorls of six or 

 eight, in the young plants slightly bent upwards, but in those 

 of greater age bending down in a very graceful manner. 

 It forms a very straight trunk, frequently rising to a height 

 of eighty feet before any branches are given off. The diameter 

 of the trunk averages from four to five feet, the cones are 

 ovate, from three to four inches long, and nearly as broad. The 

 scales are very closely set together, wedge-shaped, of a leathery 

 texture, each ending in a sharp recurved spine, about a third 

 the length of the scale. The seeds are small and flattened, in 

 form resembling the scale itself. The whole cone is of a deep 

 rich brown colour. Allan Cunningham says that this plant 

 bears young cones in the month of September. It has never 

 fruited in this country. The wood in appearance and colour 

 much resembles some of the lighter kinds of deal. It is of 

 a very uniform grain, and works well. Some specimens are 

 very beautiful, on account of small knots interspersed 

 throughout, giving it somewhat the appearance of bird's-eye 

 maple, though being of a lighter colour it has a more delicate 

 appearance. It is chiefly used in the colony for house car- 

 pentry and many kinds of furniture. For the masts of vessels 

 it is peculiarly adapted when green, as spars can be obtained 

 in any quantity, from eighty to a hundred feet in length ; but it 

 is said in drying, these masts cannot be depended on, as there 

 is little lateral cohesion between the fibres, and being entirely 

 devoid of resin, there is nothing to strengthen them. The 

 timber procured from the inland or mountain brushes is con- 

 sidered superior to that grown near the coast ; from some trees 

 as much as ten thousand feet of saleable timber can be ob- 

 tained. From Sydney, and other parts, large quantities are 

 imported, giving employment to a large number of sawyers, 

 who receive pay at the rate of £2 10s. per thousand feet. In 

 Queensland, also, the timber is an article of great commercial 

 importance. Though there is no actual resin deposited in 

 these trees, there is an abundance of a clear, white, transparent 

 substance, which exudes from the trunks and adheres to them, 

 hanging in the form of icicles. Some fine specimens of the 

 wood of this tree were exhibited in the International Exhi- 

 bition of 1862, in both the Sydney and Queensland collections. 

 These are now to be seen amongst the magnificent collection 

 of colonial and foreign woods in the Royal Gardens, Kew. 

 The Araucaria imbricata, Pav., or Chili pine, is, perhaps, 



