ARAUCARIA IMBRICATA. 
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Pavon’s name; but Lamarck, most probably in ignorance of it, published it in the “Encyclopaedia Methodique,” 
under the name of Dombeya Chilensis . It seems scant justice to honour the name of the intermediary at 
home, to whom the new species was sent, in preference to that of the explorer who sent it; but we are 
bound to acknowledge that it is an injustice which has often been perpetrated with less apology than in the 
present instance, where Dombey had been at least personally a partner in Pavon’s toils and dangers, and 
may possibly have seen the tree in its wild state with him. 
Several other names were given to it by various authors shortly after the first descriptions, before the 
claims of priority were definitely recognised. These names will be seen in our synonymy at the commence¬ 
ment. It is, however, long since Pavon’s name has been universally recognised. In England, Lambert 
merely repeated Pavon’s description in his “ Genus Pinus,” with the addition of one or two minor details, 
which were communicated to him by Pavon, who had omitted them in his own description. Since then no 
material addition has been made to our knowledge of the plant, although our appreciation of the true relations 
of the different parts of the fruit is probably truer. 
Properties and Uses. —Pavon’s account of the properties of this tree is that the wood is yellowish- 
white, fibrous, full of very beautiful veins, and capable of being polished and worked with facility. The 
timber is admirably adapted for ship-building. The resin, which abounds in all parts of the tree, is white, 
its smell like that of frankincense, and its taste not unpleasant. It is applied in plaster as a remedy for 
contusions and putrid ulcers, it is supposed to cicatrize recent wounds, to strengthen fractures and relaxations, 
and to mitigate headaches, and it is used as a diuretic (in pills), and to cleanse venereal ulcers. The Indians 
eat the fruit raw, as well as boiled and roasted; with it they make pastry, and distil from it a spirituous 
liquor. There are stated times for collecting the fruit, which they preserve to make use of when 
required. 
On the same head, Dr Poeppig says :— 
“ The Araucaria is the Palm of those Indians who inhabit the Chilian Andes from lat. 37° to 48°, yielding to these nomad nations a vegetable 
substance that is found in the greater plenty the more they recede from the whites, and the more difficult they find it to obtain by commerce. 
Such is the extent of the Araucaria forests ( Pinones ), and the amazing quantity of nutritious seed that each full-grown tree produces, that the 
Indians are ever secure from want, and even the discord that prevails frequently among the different hordes does not prevent the quiet collection 
of this kind of harvest. A single fruit ( cabeza , a head) contains between 200 and 300 kernels, and there are frequently twenty or thirty fruits on one 
stem; and as even a hearty eater among the Indians, except he should be wholly deprived of every other kind of sustenance, cannot consume 
more than 200 nuts in a day, it is obvious that eighteen Araucaria trees will maintain a single person for a whole year. The kernel, which is of 
the shape of an Almond, but double the size, is surrounded with a coriaceous membrane that is easily removed; though relishing when prepared, 
it is not easily digestible, and, containing but a small quantity of oil, is apt to cause disorders of the stomach to those who are not accustomed to 
this diet. When the scarcely-matured seeds are dried in the sun, a sugary substance exudes, which appears to reside chiefly in the embryo. The 
Indians eat them either fresh, boiled, or roasted ; and the latter mode of cooking gives them a flavour something like that of a Chestnut. For winter 
use they are dried after being boiled, and the women prepare a kind of flour and pastry from them.If a branch be scratched or 
the scales of unripe fruit be broken, a thick milky juice immediately exudes that soon changes to a yellowish resin, of which the smell is agreeable, 
and which is considered by the Chilians to possess medicinal virtues, and to be able to cure the most violent rheumatic headaches when applied 
to the spot where the pain is felt.” (Translated from “ Pceppig’s Journey,” in Comp, to Bot. Mag., i. p. 355.) 
Mrs Maria Graham, afterwards Lady Calcott, in her “Journal of a Residence in Chili in 1822-1824,’’ 
p. 508, speaks of its uses in very much the same terms. 
It is rather remarkable that, notwithstanding the high commendation of the timber for ship-building by 
the Spanish Commissioners, little or no use seems to have been subsequently made of it for this purpose. 
Poeppig probably indicates the cause of this when he says that the timber yields to none in hardness and 
solidity, and might prove valuable for many uses, if the places of growth of the tree were less inaccessible. 
“For ship-building,” says he, “it would be useful, but it is much too heavy for masts. ” It is unques¬ 
tionably very hard, very solid, and very heavy. It would, doubtless, make beautiful furniture. Being 
very close in the grain, it takes an exceedingly fine polish, while the colour is fine, the heart wood being 
bright yellow, and the young wood white, unless when the tree has been exposed to forest fires, when the 
wood becomes red. 
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Culture. 
