V 
i/^lokK ^ 
August 13, 1955 
Air Mail 
Hr. F. L. Hendrickx 
INEAC 
M^ungu, Kivu, Belgian Congo 
Dear Hr. Hendricks; 
I have not forgotten ray veiy pleasant visit with you at your research 
station and have been casting around for inforraation on the ParanS pine. 
Some I got from a good friend of mine in the Forest Service, Dr, Billiam 
A. Dayton. He writes as follows; "ParanA-pine [ Araucaria angustifolia 
(Bertoloni) 0. Kuntze] which, of course, is not a pine, the most important 
softwood timber of Brazil, forms one of the natural vegetative types of 
that countiy, in the southeastern states of ParanA and adjoining Santa 
Catarina, lapping over into adjacent Paraguay and Argentina a bit. These 
two states seem to lie mainly between the Tropic of Capricorn and 28 degrees 
S. latitude, and it5 degrees and 51; degrees longitude ¥. , and I assume the 
climate would be something like that of central and southern Florida. I 
have never been in Brazil but, putting together references in •Plants and 
Plant Science in Latin America*, it would appear that the states of ParanA 
and Santa Catarina lie in a precipitation zone averaging 1000 to 2000 mm. 
(1;0 to 80 Inches) annually, with Januaiy precipitation averaging 100 to 
200 mm. (k to 8 inches) and July precipitation averaging 25 to 100 ram. 
(1 to k inches), the precipitation tolerably evenly distributed through the 
year, but with s\jinmer (our winter) precipitation on much of the area about 
33 to 50 % of the whole. The climate and soil are favorable to wheat- 
growing and much clearing is done for that crop. This area is also the 
home of matA, or Paraguay-tea ( Ilex paraguensis St. Hil.) and of imbuya, 
or •Brazilian walnut* [ Phoebe porosa ( IJees & Mart . ) Mez] , one of the most 
important hardwood flooring , furniture and veneer woods of Brazil. Sorry 
I can't give you more 'dope* on this area, but you say you have been there 
yourself and I think you will find same of your Museum colleagues, such as 
Lyman Smith, have a first-hand familiarity with the ParanA-pine country. 
The Plant Buyers Guide lists Herbst Bros. , Inc. , h2 Warren St. , New York 
City, as carrying seed of ParanA-pine. The FAO list lists the Semrico 
Florestal, Ministerio de Agriculture, Sio de Janeiro, as its seed source.* 
In addition he sent me two little pamphlets giving further information, 
largely dealing, however, with the use of this tree for timber. You per- 
haps will need more information regarding this tree but that you probably 
can get through your Government's representatives in Brazil. 
