Common Names
De Laubenfels araucaria (1).Taxonomic notes
Description
"A columnar tree 10-50 m tall, branches dense and spreading. Bark gray, exfoliating in thin strips or irregular scales. Branchlets somewhat twisted, 18-28 mm. in diameter. Juvenile leaves spreading, needle-like, non-flattened, apex incurved, 10-15 mm. long. Adult leaves scale-like, triangular, imbricate, apex acuminate and incurved, midrib prominent, 1.2-2 cm. long by 8-10 mm. wide. Male cone cylindrical, curved, 12-15 cm. long by 22-28 mm. wide, scales ovate, microsporophylls triangular, pollen sacs 12. Female cone globular, 10-12 cm. long by 8-9 cm. wide, with long erect bracts 8-10 mm. long recurved at the tips. Seed to 3 cm. long, wings rounded, nut broad. Cotyledons 4, germination epigeal" (1).Range
S New Caledonia: Mt. Mou, Mt. des Sources, Mt. Dzumac, Mt. Dou 400-1400 m. At Mont Do Botanical Reserve, this species receives an average rainfall of 1690 mm per year (more if fog drip is accounted for), with a precipitation maximum in February (avg. 255 mm) and minimum in September (45 mm). A. laubenfelsii occurs on ultramafic soils in both maquis and as an emergent in upland rainforest. In both habitats is evidently regenerates more or less continuously in response to small-scale disturbances including fire (in maquis) and blowdown (in maquis and rainforest) (1, 2).Big Tree
The largest tree I have found documented was 68.8 cm dbh (2). Have found no documentation of heights.Oldest
About 280 years, based on ring counts, although evidence from a derived size-age relationships suggest that some rainforest emergents may attain 500 years (2).Dendrochronology
One study (2), which used tree age and size data in evaluating stand structure..Ethnobotany
Observations
Remarks
Citations
(1) Silba 1986 .(2) Rigg, L.S., Enright, N.J., Jaffre, T. 1998. Stand structure of the emergent conifer Araucaria laubenfelsii, in maquis and rainforest, Mont Do, New Caledonia. Australian Journal of Ecology 23(6): 528-538.
[ Araucaria ] [ Araucariaceae ] [ home ]
This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.geocities.com/~earlecj/ar/ar/laubenfelsii.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
E-mail:
earlecj@earthlink.com
Last modified on 20-Mar-1999