544 
CONIFERS. — THE ARAUCARIA. 
in the country of the Cuncos, and about 
Osorno, is said, to occur on mountains of a 
very moderate altitude, near the sea. The Cor- 
eovado, a mountain that rises opposite Chiloe, 
is said to be studded, from its foot to the snow- 
line, with largegroups of these beautiful trees." 
The wood, as grown in the Andes, is of a yel- 
lowish white colour, veiny, and of close texture ; 
and is said to have been used in ship-building. 
The tree produces a whitish resin, used ex- 
tensively by the natives in the cure of wounds 
and contusions. The fruit may be said to 
form the regular harvest of several of the ori- 
ginal tribes, and it is eaten by them in a raw 
state, and after being boiled and roasted. 
The tree is particularly ornamental, and 
no plant can be used with greater effect in 
distinguishing particular spots of country ap- 
propriated to art. It should be on every gen- 
tleman's lawn : it is both elegant and unique ; 
and if sheltered during frosty weather, so as 
to keep off that rustiness of colour which a 
free exposure to the seasons brings with it, it 
will well repay the trouble in spring time. 
With regard to what is the best mode of pro- 
pagating this tree there is but one opinion — 
raising from seeds. Bottom heat is invariably 
recommended; and the seeds should be inserted 
to the depth of about an inch and a quarter, 
in large boxes or pans filled with free loamy 
soil, which should on no account be allowed 
to get dry. When two years old they should 
be transplanted into nursery lines, in a warm 
sheltered situation in the open ground, care- 
fully guarding them from excess of moisture, 
and, in frosty weather, from excess of cold. 
Those raised in hothouses, greenhouses, &c, 
certainly look better ; but when planted in 
their final situation, in exposed places, the 
former soon take the lead. Planted by the 
seaside in Norfolk, they have made shoots 
about a foot in length in one season. Plants 
nine inches high are 2s. each ; eighteen inches 
high 5s. each (1846). 
This tree has borne the names Araucaria 
Domheyi, Richard ; Colymbea quadrifaria, 
Salisbury ; and Dombeya chilensis, Lamarck. 
Araucaria Bidwilli, Hooker (Mr. Bid- 
will's Araucaria). — Leaves spreading, spirally 
arranged around the branches, ovate and 
pungently acuminate, three quarters of an 
inch long, and much dilated at the base. 
Cones (female) varying in shape from globu- 
lar to oval, nine inches long by seven inches 
broad ; scales loose, broad, winged, two-lipped, 
lower lip with a reflexed stiff spinous apex; 
(male) stout, cylindrical, four inches long ; 
scales oblong, compact. Seeds obovate, two or 
two and a half inches long, and three quarters 
of an inch broad. 
A very striking and noble evergreen-tree, 
of remarkable dimensions, growing in its 
native haunts from 100 to 150 feet high, 
with a stout trunk which scarcely tapers for 
one-half of its length, and is covered with a 
smooth blackish bark. Mr. Bidwill, its dis- 
coverer, describes these full-grown trees as 
very striking objects ; the dead brances com- 
mence about half-way up the stem, and con- 
tinue nearly to the summit, where the live 
branches are produced, about sixteen in a 
whorl. This bare-stemmed habit is induced 
by the crowded position occupied by the trees 
in the depths of the forests ; indeed, Mr. 
Bidwill states that there are no live branches 
except on those parts which rise above the 
surrounding trees : this part of the trees 
forms a very obtusely conical, almost globular 
head, the branches being densely crowded. 
Around these branches the leaves are closely 
arranged in an imbricated form, as in A. im- 
bricata, which indeed, in this respect, it a 
good deal resembles, only in the present plant 
the leaves spread out, often nearly at right 
angles; they are of a remarkably hard and 
rigid texture, slightly concave above, a little 
convex beneath, and generally marked or 
impressed with two lines, from the close 
application of the lower leaves in the infant 
state ; they are dark green and glossy, averag- 
ing rather more than three quarters of an inch 
long, but, occasionally, on the young branches, 
twice that length : on the younger and ter- 
minal branches the leaves appear crowded, 
but the dilated base is there recognisable ; 
and as the branches enlarge by age, this cha- 
racter becomes more and more apparent ; at 
length remarkably so, the diameter of the 
flattened dilated base equalling the length of 
the leaf, which takes a transversely hexagonal 
form. Thus on the older branches the leaves 
resemble a series of flattened hexagonal scales, 
with a leafy spine projecting from the centre. 
The cones are produced on the topmost 
branches, close to the central stem, rarely 
more than ten or twelve in number ; they 
grow upright, seated on short leafy branchlets 
arising from the horizontal main branches. 
Both in size and form, Mr. Bidwill describes 
them as varying considerably ; sometimes they 
are spherical, sometimes pear-shaped, with 
the small end downwards, and sometimes 
nearly oval ; but in all cases the scales are 
large, loosely compacted, and spreading, the 
majority of them nearly horizontal, about four 
inches long by three inches broad. These 
scales, when seen lying in their natural posi- 
tion, present each a thickened face to the 
spectator, tapering to an edge or wing on 
each side, and towards the apex becoming 
acuminated, with a recurved spinous point, 
and on the upper side another smaller scale 
or point, with which this is incorporated 
below ; these reflexed points are so stiff and 
