Common Names
Pehuén [Spanish], monkeypuzzle tree.Taxonomic notes
Syn: A. imbricata Pavon (1).Description
"A pyramidal tree 30-40 m tall, 1-1.5m in girth. Bark grey-brown, resinous, smooth, marked by rings made by old branch scars. Branches horizontal, in whorls of five, in opposite pairs, lateral branches horizontal or slightly pendant. Leaves scale-like, persistent on the trunk even to the base, ovate-lanceolate, shiny green on both surfaces, 30-50 mm long by 8-25 mm wide, surface marked with longitudinal lines, with stomata on both faces, persisting 10-15 years. Dioecious or monoecious. Male cones solitary or in groups, erect, yellowish-brown, 7-15 cm long by 5 cm wide, with 20 whorled scales; microsporophylls acute, recurved. Female cone globular, dark brown, maturing in 2-3 years, 10-18 cm. long by 8-15 cm. wide, falling off at maturity, scales with a long triangular recurved point. Seeds bright brown to orangish, triangular, 2.5-4 cm. long by 0.7-1.5 cm. wide, with a long narrow nut, with 2 small even wings at the top, margins denticulate at the apex" (1).Range
S Chile; SW Argentina; 950-1050 m (1).Abstract of (2): "The emergent conifer Araucaria araucana (Mol.) K. Koch and the small deciduous broadleaved tree Nothofagus antarctica (Forst.) Oerst. occur as mixed post-fire stands in south-central Chile and Argentina. Both species are adapted to survive fire. Adaptations of A. araucana include thick bark, sprouting from epicormic buds and protected terminal buds on branches. N. antarctica resprouts vigorously after fire with multiple shoots. This study investigated the dynamics of this community, particularly in relation to fire. Recently burnt stands were examined for size-related response to fire. All A. araucana < 30 cm d.b.h. were killed with larger trees surviving. The size of these surviving A. araucana is probably related to fire intensity. Stand disturbance histories, population size and age distributions, diameter growth rate patterns and spatial relationships of different size classes, within and between species, were examined in intact stands. Most of these stands contained evidence of past fire. Within the first decade after fire, A. araucana (but not N. antarctica ) seedlings or root suckers began to establish beneath the resprouted N. antarctica canopy. However, establishment was spatially clustered around surviving female A. araucana or abandoned caches of unknown seed predators. Once established, A. araucana grew through the sparse N. antarctica canopy, eventually overtopping it. This suppression of N. antarctica , if uninterrupted for more than 150 years, may lead to pure stands of A. araucana . However, fires are common in this region and both species possess attributes that promote accidental fires once ignited. Fire usually leads to formation of stands with clustered 10-20 m tall A. araucana over a 2-5 m tall N. antarctica subcanopy. Therefore, fire acts as a medium of species co-existence between a vigorously sprouting, shade-intolerant species (N. antarctica ), and one that partly survives fire above-ground and is more shade-tolerant ( A. araucana). The history of fire frequency and intensity on a site largely determine population structures for these species in mixed stands."
Big Tree
A specimen 223 cm dbh and 50 m tall is recorded from Conguillo National Park (Argentina or Chile?) (3).Oldest
A tree-ring sample, probably collected from a live tree, contains 834 rings (4). It is likely that ages of >1000 years are possible (Val LaMarche, pers. comm. 1985).Dendrochronology
Ethnobotany
A popular ornamental in the cool temperate zone.Observations
Argentina has preserved forests of this rare giant in the Parque Nacional Lanin , while petrified remains of ancient Araucarias up to 3 m in diameter can be seen at the Monumento Natural Bosques Petrificados .Remarks
Species is fully protected under Appendix I of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (1973, revised 16-Apr-1993)).Citations
(1) Silba 1986.(2) B.R. Burns. 1993. Fire-induced dynamics of Araucaria araucana-Nothofagus antarctica forest in the southern Andes. Journal of Biogeography 20(6): 669-685.
(3) International Dendrology Society. Year Book 1991.
(4) International Tree-Ring Data Bank, sample ARGE015, limiting dates 1140-1974.
See also:
L. Cardemil, E. Salas and M. Godoy. 1984. Comparative study of the karyotypes of South American species of Araucaria . Journal of Heredity 75(2):121-125. ABSTRACT: Root tips of both Araucaria araucana (Mol.) Koch and Araucaria angustifolia (Bert.) O. Ktze. were used as sources of mitotic chromosomes. Both species have 26 chromosomes as the diploid number, consisting of 13 pairs of homologues.
T.T. Veblen. 1982. Regeneration patterns in Araucaria araucana forest in Chile. Journal of Biogeography 9: 11-28. ABSTRACT: A. araucana occurs from c. 37° 20' to 40° 20'S in the mountains of south-central Chile and adjacent parts of Argentina. A. araucana , as well as several other members of this genus in the southwest Pacific, has been considered a relict species which is gradually being replaced by angiosperm tree species better adapted to the present climate. Analysis of the structures of several stands of A. araucana associated with Nothofagus pumilio or N. dombeyi in the Andes and coastal mountains of south-central Chile indicates no general tendency for the former species to be replaced by either Nothofagus ssp. A. araucana occurs in areas subject to frequent disturbance by volcanic ash falls, lava flows, fires, snow avalanches, and mass movements (especially scoria creep and mud-flows).
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This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.geocities.com/~earlecj/ar/ar/araucana.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
E-mail:
earlecj@earthlink.com
Last modified on 14-May-1999