Araucaria Juss.
Pyramidal, columnar or umbrella-shaped trees with regularly whorled branches, often becoming flat-headed with age, mostly monoecious, sometimes dioecious. Bark resinous, the surface peeling. Lvs persistent for many years, sometimes pungent-tipped, large and subulate to ovate, or small and scale-like, often closely set and imbricate. ♂ strobili (cones) large, solitary or fascicled. ♀ cones globose to nearly ovoid, ripening in 2-3 years; scales becoming woody, sometimes winged; ovule adherent to scale by ligule (outgrowth of scale). Mature cone often massive; seed ± immersed in ligular outgrowth.
c. 18 spp., W. Pacific, S. America. Naturalised sp. 1.
In addition to the spp. described below, 2 large-leaved spp. in sect. Colymbea Lindley are commonly cultivated in N.Z. and form very conspicuous trees. The cold-tolerant A. araucana (Möller) K. Koch, monkey puzzle, has lvs almost amplexicaul at the base and large cones c. 15 cm diam. A. bidwillii Hook., bunya bunya, has lvs narrow at base and cones which are amongst the largest and heaviest in the Coniferopsida, c. 26 × 20 cm in N.Z.
