Araucaria columnaris

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Araucaria columnaris

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Gymnospermae
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order:
Araucariales
Family: Araucariaceae
Genus: Araucaria
Section: A. sect. Eutacta
Species:
A. columnaris
Binomial name
Araucaria columnaris
J.R.Forst. Hook.
Synonyms[2]
  • Araucaria cookii R.Br. ex Endl.
  • Araucaria excelsa (Lamb.) R.Br.
  • Araucaria intermedia R.Br. ex Vieill.
  • Columbea excelsa (Lamb.) Spreng.
  • Cupressus columnaris J.R.Forst.
  • Dombeya excelsa Lamb.
  • Eutacta cookii Carrière
  • Eutacta excelsa (Lamb.) Link
  • Eutacta humilis Carrière
  • Eutacta minor Carrière
  • Eutassa columnaris (G.Forst.) de Laub.

Araucaria columnaris, the coral reef araucaria, Cook pine (or Cook's pine), New Caledonia pine, Cook araucaria, or columnar araucaria, is a species of conifer in the family Araucariaceae.

Distribution

The tree is

Pacific
.

It was first classified by Johann Reinhold Forster, a botanist on the second voyage of Captain James Cook to circumnavigate the globe as far south as possible. It is named directly for Cook, and not for the Cook Islands.

Description

Araucaria columnaris is a distinctive narrowly conical tree growing up to 60 m (200 ft) tall in its native habit. The trees have a slender, spire-like crown.[3] The shape of young trees strongly resembles A. heterophylla. The bark of the Cook pine peels off in thin paper-like sheets or strips and is rough, grey, and resinous.[3]

The relatively short, mostly horizontal branches are in whorls around the slender, upright to slightly leaning trunk. The branches are lined with cord-like, horizontal branchlets. The branchlets are covered with small, green, incurved, point-tipped, spirally arranged, overlapping leaves. The young leaves are needle-like, while the broader adult leaves are triangular and scale-like.[3]

The female seed cones are scaly, egg-shaped, and 10–15 cm (4–6 in) long by 7–11 cm (3–4 in) wide. The smaller, more numerous male pollen cones are at the tips of the branchlets and are scaly, foxtail-shaped, and 5 cm (2 inches) long.[3]

A 2017 study found that trees tend to have a tilt dependent on the hemisphere of their location, growing upright on the Equator but leaning south in the northern hemisphere and north in the southern hemisphere.[4]

Ornamental tree

It is cultivated in gardens and public landscapes in

Southeast Brazil.[3] Many of the "Norfolk Island pines" that grow in Hawaii, including their descendants used as potted ornamentals on the U.S. mainland, are actually A. columnaris, the two species having been confused when introduced.[5]

  • Male cones
    Male cones
  • Female cones
    Female cones
  • Foliage
    Foliage

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-2.RLTS.T42196A10661112.en
    . Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Araucaria columnaris (G.Forst.) Hook.". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 13 December 2017 – via The Plant List. Note that this website has been superseded by World Flora Online
  3. ^ a b c d e "Araucaria columnaris". The Gymnosperm Database.
  4. PMID 28556968
    .
  5. ^ Armstrong, Wayne P. "The Araucaria Family: Past & Present". Pacific Horticulture Society. Retrieved 6 March 2021.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Araucaria columnaris.
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