i^INETUM DANlCUMi 



34i 



Want, the forests yielding to those nomad nations a vegetable substance 

 that is found in greater plenty the more they recede from the whites. 

 The kernels are dried, after being boiled, for winter use ; their time 

 of ripening is towards the end of March, at which time the cones 

 break up and fall to pieces, shedding their seeds on the ground, 

 thus bestowing a great boon on the poor Indians, which nothing but 

 a small parrot divides with them. And there is little doubt, when the 

 numerous young Araucarias which are now being planted, or have been 

 planted in Europe, become large, and arrive at a fruit-bearing state, 

 but that as great a boon will be given to future generations as that 

 conferred on the present one by the fruit of the Spanish chestnut, 

 which is now so largely consumed in all the towns and cities of 

 Europe. Fruiting trees are mostly found in Southern England and 

 in Western France, especially near Brest. 



There are several seedling varieties of the Chili Pine distinguished 

 in the nurseries, but such differences are only retained while the plants 

 are young, with the exception of the variegated kind (G. Gordon, 

 The Pinetum," 1875). 



The Spaniards having settlements in the immediate vicinity of 

 the country of the Araucanians, employed Don Francisco Dendariarena 

 in 1780 to examine the trees, with a view of discovering if any of 

 them were suitable for shipbuilding. The result of his experiments 

 was to select this species (the Peghuen of the natives), which was 

 accordingly made use of to repair the Spanish squadron, then lying 

 at anchor in the port of Talcaguano. The Abbot Molina, who was 

 then writing his Civil and Natural History of Chili" (published at 

 Bologna in 1782), supposed the tree to be a Pinus, and he described 

 it in his work under the name of Finns Araucana. In 1782 the 

 Spanish Government commissioned Don Josej)h Pavon to search for 

 this tree ; and he, finding both its flowers and fruit, ascertained that 

 it was a distinct genus, and^called it Araucaria imhricata. Don Joseph 

 Pavon (who had previously visited Chili, in company with Don Hip- 

 polita Buiz and the French botanist Dombey, in 1777) sent specimens 

 of Araucaria imhricata to France, to the care of Dombey, who showed 

 them to MM. Lamarck and De Jussieu in Paris, the former of 

 whom called it Dombeya chilends, while Jussieu retained the name of 

 Araucaria. Don Joseph Pavon, however, complains, in his account 

 of this tree published in the first volume of the ' ' Memoirs of the 

 Boyal Academy of Sciences at Madrid," that both Jussieu and 

 Lamarck made several mistakes in their description of the botanical 

 characteristics of the species which had been avoided by both Molina 

 and himself. In 1795 Captain Yancouver touched at the coast of 

 Chili, and Mr. Menzies, v/ho 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 



