Araucaria scopulorum

de Laub. 1969

Common names

Rock araucaria (Silba 1986).

Taxonomic notes

Synonyms: Araucaria bernieri var. pumilio Silba 2000, Eutassa scopulorum (de Laub.) de Laub. 2009. A molecular analysis places Araucaria scopulorum into the clade of small-leaved species of New Caledonia, along with A. bernieri, A. schmidii, and A. subulata (Gaudeul et al. 2012).

Description

"A tree 4-20 m tall, with an oval crown. Bark exfoliating in thin strips, light gray, nearly white. Juvenile branches spreading. Adult branchlets pinnate, forming a wide U-like pattern in one plane, 6-8 mm. in diameter. Juvenile leaves needle-like, 7 mm. long, curved inwards. Adult leaves imbricate, in dense sets, ovate, midrib prominent, scale-like, apex slightly incurved, 3-4 mm. long by 2.5-3 mm. wide. Male cone cylindrical, twisted, 3-5 cm. long by 7-11 mm. wide, scales ovate, pollen sacs 6, microsporophylls triangular. Female cones not seen; scales with an triangular bract to 5 mm. long. Seeds to 3 cm. long, with an oblong nut with an elongated tip, wings broadly acuminate. Germination epigeal" (Silba 1986).

Distribution and Ecology

New Caledonia: Poum, Dothio, Cap Bocage, 0-300m (Silba 1986).

This map shows herbarium records of Araucaria species native to New Caledonia. Letter corresponds to first letter of species epithet with different colors for species having same first letter; A. scopulorum is purple (A. goroensis coded as A. muelleri, see A. goroensis for discussion). Click on an icon for further information. Distribution data from GBIF (2020.03.30), edited to remove duplicates.

The IUCN reports that this species is facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild due to a limited and severely fragmented range that is suffering ongoing and projected declines in extent of habitat, number of subpopulations, and number of mature plants.

Remarkable Specimens

No data as of 2023.02.23.

Ethnobotany

No data as of 2023.02.23.

Observations

No data as of 2023.02.23.

Remarks

Citations

Gaudeul, M., G. Rouhan, M.F. Gardner, and P.M. Hollingsworth. 2012. AFLP markers provide insights into the evolutionary relationships and diversification of New Caledonian Araucaria species (Araucariaceae). American Journal of Botany 99(1):68-81.

Laubenfels, D.J. de. 1969. Trav. Lab. Forest. Toulouse 1, 8(5):2.

See also

Association Endemia, a site devoted to New Caledonian species. Has excellent photos, a range map, and other information. In French.

The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.

de Laubenfels (1972).