Common Names

Rule araucaria (Silba 1986).

Taxonomic notes

Description

"A tree to 30 m tall, with a spider-like crown. Bark dark brown, exfoliating in thin strips or scaly. Juvenile branches distichous. Adult branchlets 2-2.5 cm. in diameter, in long whip-like cords. Juvenile leaves narrow, scale-like, incurved, sharply acute. Adult leaves scale-like, dark green, twisted, imbricate, lanceolate, midrib prominent, apex incurved, 2-2.5 cm. long by 1.1-1.4 cm. wide. Male cone cylindrical, 13 cm. long by 30 mm. wide, scales triangular, pollen sacs 15, microsporophylls triangular. Female cone to 12 cm. long by 8 cm. wide; bracts erect, triangular to 15 mm. long with a wide base. Seeds to 3 cm. long, nut with an elongated tip, wings ovate. Germination epigeal" (Silba 1986).

Range

New Caledonia: C and S areas, type near Presque de Bogota at 150-1150 m (Silba 1986).

Big Tree

I have no data on wild trees. A specimen in Arderne Gardens, Clairmont, South Africa was measured at 78 cm dbh and 18.6 m tall (Robert Van Pelt pers. comm., 24-Nov-2003).

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

See Also

de Laubenfels (1972).