Araucariaceae Henkel & W.Hochst.

First published in Syn. Nadelholz. xvii, 1. 1865 (1865)nom. cons.
This family is accepted

Descriptions

Gemma Bramley, Anna Trias-Blasi & Richard Wilford (2023). The Kew Temperate Plant Families Identification Handbook. Kew Publishing Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Recognition
Characters of similar families: Pinaceae: seeds 2, on the upper side of each fertile scale, seed cone scales in the axils of bracts. Cupressaceae: seeds 1–many, axillary or on the base of each bract.
Morphology General Habit
Dioecious or monoecious evergreen, highly resinous trees, bark rough and exfoliating in horizontal strips
Morphology Branches
Branches in pseudowhorls, spreading or ascending
Morphology Leaves
Foliage branchlets with or without terminal buds Leaves spirally arranged (opposite to subopposite in Wollemia), laminae flat and triangular to lanceolate or scale-like, sessile, imbricately covering the shoot and more or less distichously spreading (4-ranked in Wollemia), more or less coriaceous
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Pollen
Pollen cones axillary to the leaves, solitary or in small clusters, much elongating after anthesis and becoming cylindrical-Microphylls numerous, helically inserted, crowded with imbricate or tessellate heads, each with 4–20 oblong pollen sacs
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Bracts
Bracts helically inserted on the rachis, much developed, flattened, with a thickened distal margin and with or without a terminal elongated cusp, forming the bulk of the cone
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds wingless or with 1 or 2 unequal wings. Seed cones terminal on long shoots or lateral on short, pedunculate, leafy shoots, solitary, erect, ovoid or subglobose, usually disintegrating leaving its rachis on the tree Seed scales much reduced, axillary to and almost entirely fused with the bract with or without a small free apical ligule enclosing the seed
Distribution
Three genera with 37 species. Occurs in all major islands in Malesia except Java and the lesser Sunda Islands, in Australia (New South Wales and Queensland), on the SW Pacific Islands, in New Zealand (North Island), and in South America (SE Brazil, NE Argentina, S Chile, and SW Argentina (Andes)). Temperate species of Araucaria are often planted as ornamental trees.
Note
Highly resinous trees. Leaves helically attached, lamina broad and flat or scale-like. Pollen cones catkin-like, sometimes large. Seed cones large, globose. Seed cone scales fused with the bract enclosing a single inverted seed.
Description Author
Martin Xanthos
[KTEMP-FIH]

Timothy M. A. Utteridge and Laura V. S. Jennings (2022). Trees of New Guinea. Kew Publishing. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Distribution
Small family of three genera, with a disjunct distribution in South America, Malesia, eastern Australia and islands in the south-western Pacific Ocean (Agathis, Araucaria). In New Guinea, both Agathis and Araucaria are represented by two species, an additional species of Agathis occurs in the Solomon Islands.
Note
This family is one of the oldest extant families with a fossil record going back to the Late Triassic; it was once cosmopolitan forming forests during the ‘Age of Dinosaurs’.
Morphology General Habit
Dioecious or monoecious evergreen, resinous trees Conifers with large, globose seed cones which disintegrate on the tree, dropping cones scales
Morphology General Bark
Bark smooth, exfoliating with rounded or irregular flakes (Agathis), rough and exfoliating in horizontal strips and eventually deeply fissured (Araucaria), or forming many irregular pustules (Wollemia). Leaves spirally arranged or subopposite, scale-like and adnate (Araucaria) or laminar and sessile or short petiolate (Agathis), or forming 4 ranks (Wollemia), more or less coriaceous, with numerous parallel veins
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Pollen
Pollen cones cylindrical; microsporophylls numerous, helically inserted, with imbricate or tessellate heads
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seed cones terminal on long shoots (Wollemia) or lateral on short shoots, solitary, erect, ovoid or subglobose, usually disintegrating leaving the rachis on the tree Seed scales much reduced, axillary to and almost entirely fused with the bract, more or less enclosing a single, inverted seed, concrescent with the seed scale or free, wingless or with a single wing or 2 unequal wings.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Bracts
Bracts helically inserted on the rachis, much developed, flattened, with a thickened distal margin and with or without a terminal elongated cusp, forming the bulk of the cone
[TONG]

Sources

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Trees of New Guinea

    • Trees of New Guinea
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • The Kew Temperate Plant Families Identification Handbook

    • The Kew Temperate Plant Families Identification Handbook
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0