ARAUCA'RIA, in Botany, is the name of a singular genus of gigantic Firs, found scattered over the southern hemisphere. It is known from all the other firs by its stiff broad leaves, by a long leafy appendage with which the scales of its cones are terminated, and by its anthers having many cells. The following species nre those which are best known:— Araucaria excelsa commonly called the Norfolk Island Pine, is found not only in the spot after which it has been named, but also in several other places in the South Seas, as in New Caledonia, Botany Island, Isle of Pines, and in some parts of the east coast of Australia. It is described as a most majestic tree, growing to the height of from 160 to 228 feet, with a circumference sometimes of more than 30 feet. Its trunk rises erect, and is sparingly covered with long drooping naked branches, towards the extremities of which the leaves are clustered; these latter, when the plant is young, are long, narrow, curved, sharp-pointed, and spreading, but when the tree is old they have a shorter and broader figure, and are pressed close to the branches ; old and young trees are consequently so different that they have the appearance of distinct species. The bark abounds in turpentine ; the wood, which is destitute of that substance, is white, tough, and close-grained. It was once expected that this tree would have been valuable for its timber, and that it would have afforded spars for the navy of great size ; but it has been found on trial to be too heavy, and so unsound that Captain Hunter could only find 7 trees fit for use out of 34 that he caused to be felled. Its wood is,
however, useful for carpenters' indoor work. Several specimens of this tree exist in the collections of this country. Unfortunately it will nut live in the open air in the winter, and its growth is so rapid as to render it very soon too larz,e for the loftiest greenhouses. A supposed species, called the Moreton Bay Pine (Araucaria Cunning kami), is scarcely distinguishable from this. It is a highly interesting fact, that in plant very nearly the same as this Arnucaria excelsa certainly once grew in Great Britain. Remains of it have been found in the Lies of I)orsetshire, and have been figured in the Fossil Flora, under the name of Araucaria prima-re.
AraucariaDombeyi, or, as it is more commonly called, A. imbricate, is a noble species, inhabiting the mountains of the Araucanian Indians in South America, whence the name of the genus derives its origin. This species has its branches closely covered with broad, lance-shaped, very rigid and pungent dark-green loaves; it produces its branches hi circles around its erect stern ; and when old it acquires an appearance not very unlike that of the Norfolk Island Pine, only it is much leen graceful. Its wood is said to be durable, and it yields a groat quantity of resin. Many specimens are now growing in England, and seem to bear our winters well.
A raucaria Brasiliensis is extremely like the last, but the leaves are longer, weaker, and kers densely imbricated; and it is much more impatient of cold. It is found wild in the southern provinces of BraziL