Genus of evergreen conifers in the family Araucariaceae
Araucaria
(
; original pronunciation: [a.?aw?ka. ?ja])
[2]
is a
genus
of
evergreen
coniferous
trees
in the family
Araucariaceae
. While today they are largely confined to the
Southern Hemisphere
, during the
Jurassic
and
Cretaceous
they were distributed globally. There are 20
extant
species
in
New Caledonia
(where 14 species are
endemic
, see
New Caledonian
Araucaria
),
Norfolk Island
, eastern
Australia
,
New Guinea
,
Argentina
,
Brazil
,
Chile
and
Uruguay
.
Description
[
edit
]
Araucaria araucana
with seed
cones
Araucaria
are mainly large trees with a massive erect stem, reaching a height of 5?80 metres (16?262 ft). The horizontal, spreading branches grow in whorls and are covered with leathery or needle-like
leaves
. In some species, the leaves are narrow, awl-shaped and lanceolate, barely overlapping each other; in others they are broad and flat, and overlap broadly.
[3]
The trees are mostly
dioecious
, with male and female
cones
found on separate trees,
[4]
though occasional individuals are
monoecious
or change sex with time.
[5]
The female cones, usually high on the top of the tree, are
globose
, and vary in size among species from 7 to 25 centimetres (2.8 to 9.8 in) diameter. They contain 80?200 large
edible
seeds, similar to
pine nuts
, though larger. The male cones are smaller, 4?10 cm (1.6?3.9 in) long, and narrow to broad cylindrical, 1.5?5.0 cm (0.6?2.0 in) broad.
The genus is familiar to many people as the genus of the distinctive Chilean pine or monkey-puzzle tree (
Araucaria araucana
). The genus is named after the Spanish
exonym
Araucano
("from
Arauco
") applied to the
Mapuche
of south-central
Chile
and south-west
Argentina
, whose territory incorporates natural stands of this genus. The Mapuche people call it
pehuen
, and consider it sacred.
[3]
Some Mapuche living in the Andes name themselves
Pehuenche
("people of the
pehuen
") as they traditionally harvested the seeds extensively for food.
[6]
[7]
No distinct vernacular name exists for the genus. Many are called "pine", although they are only distantly related to true pines, in the genus
Pinus
.
Distribution and paleoecology
[
edit
]
Three members of the genus growing together ? left to right,
A. columnaris
,
A. cunninghamii
and
A. bidwillii
Members of
Araucaria
are found in
Argentina
,
Brazil
,
New Caledonia
,
Norfolk Island
,
Australia
,
New Guinea
,
Chile
and
Papua (Indonesia)
.
[8]
Many if not all current populations are
relicts
, and of restricted distribution. They are found in
forest
and
maquis shrubland
, with an affinity for exposed sites. The earliest records of the genus date to the
Middle Jurassic
, represented by
Araucaria mirabilis
of Argentina, and
Araucaria sphaerocarpa
from England.
Fossil
records show that the genus also formerly occurred in the northern hemisphere until the end of the
Cretaceous
period.
[9]
By far the greatest diversity exists in
New Caledonia
, likely due to a relatively recent
adaptive radiation
, as all
New Caledonian species
are more closely related to each other than they are to other
Araucaria
.
[9]
[3]
Much of New Caledonia is composed of
ultramafic
rock with
serpentine soils
, with low levels of nutrients, but high levels of metals such as
nickel
.
[10]
Consequently, its endemic
Araucaria
species are adapted to these conditions, and many species have been severely affected by
nickel mining in New Caledonia
and are now considered threatened or endangered, due to their habitat lying in prime areas for nickel mining activities.
Some evidence suggests that the long necks of
sauropod
dinosaurs
may have evolved specifically to browse the foliage of tall trees, including those of
Araucaria
. An analysis of modern
Araucaria
leaves found that they have a high energy content but are slow fermenting, making their ancestors a likely attractive target.
[11]
Classification and species list
[
edit
]
A. columnaris
sapling with distinctive apical bud.
There are four extant
sections
and two extinct
sections
in the genus, sometimes treated as separate genera.
[3]
[12]
[13]
Extant species
[
edit
]
Genetic studies
[
edit
]
Petrified cone of
Araucaria mirabilis
from
Patagonia
,
Argentina
dating from the
Jurassic Period
(approx. 157
mya
)
Genetic studies indicate that the extant members of the genus can be subdivided into two large
clades
? the first consisting of the
sections
Araucaria
,
Bunya
, and
Intermedia
; and the second of the strongly
monophyletic
section
Eutacta
. Sections
Eutacta
and
Bunya
are both the oldest taxa of the genus, with
Eutacta
possibly older.
[17]
- Taxa marked with
†
are extinct.
- Section
Araucaria
.
Wilde and Eames, 1952
Leaves broad; cones more than 12 cm (4.7 in) diameter; seed germination
hypogeal
. Syn. sect.
Columbea
; sometimes includes
Intermedia
and
Bunya
- Section
Bunya
.
Wilde and Eames, 1952
Contains only one living species. Produces
recalcitrant seeds
with
hypogeal
(
cryptocotylar
) germination,
[19]
though extinct species may have exhibited
epigeal germination
.
[17]
- Section
Intermedia
.
White, 1947
Contains only one living species. Produces
recalcitrant seeds
- Section
Eutacta
.
Endl. 1847
Leaves narrow, awl-like; cones less than 12 cm (4.7 in) diameter; seed germination
epigeal
- †
Section
Yezonia
.
Extinct. Contains only one species
- †
Section
Perpendicula
.
Extinct. Contains only one species
- incertae sedis
Araucaria bindrabunensis
(previously classified under section
Bunya
) has been transferred to the genus
Araucarites
.
Uses
[
edit
]
Some of the species are relatively common in cultivation because of their distinctive, formal symmetrical growth habit. Several species are economically important for
timber
production.
Food
[
edit
]
The edible large seeds of
A. araucana
,
A. angustifolia
and
A. bidwillii
? also known as
Araucaria
nuts
,
[24]
and often called, although improperly,
pine nuts
? are eaten as food, particularly among the
Mapuche
people of Chile and southwest Argentina, the
Kaingang
people in
Southern Brazil
and among
Native Australians
.
[3]
In South America
Araucaria
nuts or seeds are called
pinas
or
pinones
in Spanish and
pinhoes
in Portuguese, like pine nuts in Europe.
Pharmacological activity
[
edit
]
Pharmacological reports on genus Araucaria are
anti-ulcer
,
antiviral
,
neuro-protective
,
anti-depressant
and
anti-coagulant
.
[25]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
K. D. Hill (1998).
"
Araucaria
"
.
Flora of Australia Online
.
Australian Biological Resources Study
. Archived from
the original
on May 14, 2013
. Retrieved
May 7,
2012
.
- ^
"araucaria"
.
Oxford English Dictionary
(Online ed.).
Oxford University Press
.
(Subscription or
participating institution membership
required.)
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Christopher J. Earle (12 December 2010).
"
Araucaria
Jussieu 1789"
. The Gymnosperm Database
. Retrieved
13 November
2011
.
- ^
"Practical seedling growing: Growing
Araucaria
from seeds"
. Arboretum de Villardebelle
. Retrieved
18 November
2011
.
- ^
Michael G. Simpson (2010).
Plant Systematics
. Academic Press. p. 151.
ISBN
978-0-12-374380-0
.
- ^
"
Araucaria columnaris
"
.
National Tropical Botanical Garden
. Archived from
the original
on 16 June 2012
. Retrieved
19 November
2011
.
- ^
Francisco P. Moreno (November 2004).
"Pehuenches: "The people from the Araucarias forests"
"
. Museo de la Patagonia. Archived from
the original
on 11 January 2012
. Retrieved
18 November
2011
.
- ^
The Pine Trees of Lanai
- ^
a
b
c
Stockey, Ruth A.; Rothwell, Gar W. (July 2020).
"Diversification of crown group Araucaria : the role of Araucaria famii sp. nov. in the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) radiation of Araucariaceae in the Northern Hemisphere"
.
American Journal of Botany
.
107
(7): 1072?1093.
doi
:
10.1002/ajb2.1505
.
ISSN
0002-9122
.
PMID
32705687
.
- ^
"Maquis plants"
. October 13, 2013.
- ^
Jurgen Hummel; Carole T. Gee; Karl-Heinz Sudekum; P. Martin Sander; Gunther Nogge; Marcus Clauss (2008).
"In vitro digestibility of fern and gymnosperm foliage: implications for sauropod feeding ecology and diet selection"
.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
.
275
(1638): 1015?1021.
doi
:
10.1098/rspb.2007.1728
.
PMC
2600911
.
PMID
18252667
.
- ^
Michael Black; H. W. Pritchard (2002).
Desiccation and survival in plants: Drying without dying
.
CAB International
. p. 246.
ISBN
978-0-85199-534-2
.
- ^
James E. Eckenwalder (2009).
Conifers of the World: the Complete Reference
.
Timber Press
. p. 149.
ISBN
978-0-88192-974-4
.
- ^
Stull, Gregory W.; Qu, Xiao-Jian; Parins-Fukuchi, Caroline; Yang, Ying-Ying; Yang, Jun-Bo; Yang, Zhi-Yun; Hu, Yi; Ma, Hong; Soltis, Pamela S.; Soltis, Douglas E.; Li, De-Zhu; Smith, Stephen A.; Yi, Ting-Shuang; et al. (2021).
"Gene duplications and phylogenomic conflict underlie major pulses of phenotypic evolution in gymnosperms"
.
Nature Plants
.
7
(8): 1015?1025.
bioRxiv
10.1101/2021.03.13.435279
.
doi
:
10.1038/s41477-021-00964-4
.
PMID
34282286
.
S2CID
232282918
.
- ^
Stull, Gregory W.; et al. (2021).
"main.dated.supermatrix.tree.T9.tre"
. Figshare.
doi
:
10.6084/m9.figshare.14547354.v1
.
- ^
Wilde, Mary Hitchcock; Eames, Arthur J. (1955).
"The Ovule and 'Seed' of Araucaria Bidwillii with Discussion of the Taxonomy of the Genus: III. Anatomy of Multi-ovulate Gone Scales"
.
Annals of Botany
.
19
(75). Oxford University Press: 343?349.
doi
:
10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a083433
.
eISSN
1095-8290
.
ISSN
0305-7364
.
JSTOR
42907286
. Retrieved
2022-11-13
.
- ^
a
b
Hiroaki Setoguchi; Takeshi Asakawa Osawa; Jean-Cristophe Pintaud; Tanguy Jaffre; Jean-Marie Veillon (1998).
"Phylogenetic relationships within Araucariaceae based on
rbcL
gene sequences"
.
American Journal of Botany
.
85
(11): 1507?1516.
doi
:
10.2307/2446478
.
JSTOR
2446478
.
PMID
21680310
.
- ^
Mary E. Dettmann; H. Trevor Clifford (2005).
"Biogeography of Araucariaceae"
(PDF)
. In J. Dargavel (ed.).
Australia and New Zealand Forest Histories.
Araucaria
Forests
. Occasional Publication 2. Australian Forest History Society. pp. 1?9. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 2009-09-13.
- ^
Erich Gotz (1980).
Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms
. Springer. p. 295.
ISBN
978-3-540-51794-8
.
- ^
Cookson, Isabel C.; Duigan, Suzanne L. (1951).
"Tertiary Araucariaceae From South-Eastern Australia, With Notes on Living Species"
.
Australian Journal of Biological Sciences
.
4
(4): 415?49.
doi
:
10.1071/BI9510415
.
- ^
Araucaria marensii
at
Fossilworks
.org
- ^
Vizcaino, Sergio F.; Kay, Richard F.; Bargo, M. Susana (2012).
"Araucaria+marensii"&pg=PA112
Early Miocene Paleobiology in Patagonia: High-Latitude Paleocommunities of the Santa Cruz Formation
.
Cambridge University Press
. p. 112.
ISBN
9781139576413
. Retrieved
2017-10-21
.
- ^
Pole, Mike (2008).
"The record of Araucariaceae macrofossils in New Zealand"
.
Alcheringa
.
32
(4): 405?26.
Bibcode
:
2008Alch...32..405P
.
doi
:
10.1080/03115510802417935
.
S2CID
128903229
.
- ^
Quebec Amerique, ed. (1996).
"Pine nut"
.
The Visual Food Encyclopedia
. p. 280.
ISBN
9782764408988
.
- ^
Aslam, M.S.; Ijaz, A.S. (2013).
"Phytochemical and ethno-pharmacological review of the genus
Araucaria
"
.
Journal of Tropical Pharmaceutical Research
. Review Article.
12
(4): 651?659.
doi
:
10.4314/tjpr.v12i4.31
.
External links
[
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]