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July 23, 2005 Araucariaceae are a family of trees growing primarily in the Southern Hemisphere. Supposedly they derive from ancient Antarctic flora. This family belongs to the class Pinopsida and the order Pinales, which include, in addition to Araucariaceae, the families Taxaceae (yews), Cupressaceae (cypress trees), and, most importantly, Pinaceae (pine, cedar, spruce, fir, larch, juniper, sequoia and redwood). There are two or three minor families in addition. So, though closely related to pines, trees of the family Araucariaceae are not true pines. Pinopsida and Pinales are also called Coniferopsida and Coniferales, and are gymnosperms, which are contrasted with angiosperms, or flowering plants. They grow chiefly in Australia and Malayo-Polynesia, a biogeographical region today called Malesia, and they occur naturally only as far north as the Philippines. However, they are widely planted in Hawaii and California, and perhaps Florida too, though I didn’t notice any when I lived in suburban Miami. Individual planted trees occur even in more northerly climes. There is also an araucariaceous forest in the south of Brazil along the Atlantic seaboard between Sao Paulo and Uruguay. And there are forests in Chile too, but I personally have not been there yet. Here’s a map of Brazil where the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, where I saw the trees, can be found easily. This is a beautiful coastal region of Brazil, south of the Tropic of Capricorn, with gentle hills rolling right up to the sea. Incidentally, there is a river in the region called the Paraná, which features Iguaçu Falls. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/americas/brazil.jpg Some of the common and scientific names of the trees in this family are the bunya-bunya tree or false monkey-puzzle tree (Araucaria budwillii), from Australia; the Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria heterophylla), from Norfolk Island and Australia; the monkey-puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana, or Araucaria imbricata), of Chile, and the Paraná pine (Araucaria angustifolia), of Brazil. The names that include the word ‘pine’ are misnomers. The name ‘Araucaria’ comes from ‘Arauco’, the name of a province in Chile where monkey-puzzle trees grow and where Chile’s famous Araucanian or Mapuche Indians live. ‘Bunya bunya’ comes from the language of the Australian aborigines. There are two other genera, Wollemia and Agathis, in the family, and among the three genera, there are some 40 species. The 21 species of the genus Agathis are called ‘kauri’ or ‘dammar’ trees Once you’ve seen a few Araucariaceae, you feel that you can probably identify them with some success. Bunya-bunya trees tend to be be cylindrical rather than conical in general aspect, with sparser needles arranged in tiers of branches, and perhaps darker green than most pinaceous trees. Here are images of a bunya bunya tree, Paraná pine trees and a monkey-puzzle tree: http://davesgarden.com/pics/agardener2_1062349281_20_tn.jpg http://www.brazadv.com/images/araucaria.jpg http://garden.lot42.com/images/monkey-puzzle-tree.jpg ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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