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Araucaria (Chilean name). Including Columbea and Eutacta. Pinàceae. Large South American and Pacific Australian evergreen trees (about a dozen species), grown in their juvenile state in greenhouses and windows and often used in summer for lawn decoration; they are very decorative pot-plants.
Tall strict or widely branching conical trees: Lvs. small, scale-like and stiff, clothing all the branches uniformly and usually closely imbricated: fis. mostly dioecious, the staminate terminal and solitary or disposed in fascicles; anthers 6-8-celled; pistillate fls. in ovoid or globose heads that become large woody cones with only 1 seed underneath each scale.—The South American species (Columbea) have scarcely winged cone- scales, the cotyledons 2, and the germination hypogeal (cotyledons remaining below ground I; the Australian and Pacific species (Eutassa) have winged scales, cotyledons 4, and germination epigeal.
Araucarias are probably the most prized pot evergreens in cultivation. They are much used in house decoration, particularly at Christmas time, as they are not only attractive but will stand much hard usage. A. excelsa (Fig. 300) is the one commonly seen in residences. Propagation is by seeds and cuttings, as given under A. excelsa below. Symmetrical plants are secured from the leading shoots. Side shoots are likely to make misshapen specimens, as seen in Fig. 301. The araucarias need cool treatment. The temperature should not be above 60° at night. If kept too crowded or not given sufficient light, they become ragged and straggling, as in Fig. 302. In summer the plants should be protected from direct burning sun.
The species thrive in the open in southern Florida and in parts of California. A. imbrícata is the hardiest. It is rarely seen in greenhouses. A. Bidwillii is apparently the second hardiest, and also one of the best species for all purposes. A. excelsa and its allies are about as hardy in southern Florida as crotons and acalyphas.
The commonest species in greenhouses is A. excelsa. It is grown on an enormous scale in many nurseries for decoration as window or table plants. When raised from seed the plants grow rapidly and the branches are invariably disposed in tiers with wide internodes, often as much as 2 feet separating each tier of branches. Such plants are of little use for ordinary decorative work and recourse is made to plants raised from cuttings. This practice has grown up as it is found that plants raised from cuttings assume a dwarf compact habit, with the tiers of branches placed close together, and that they do not grow into large specimens until many years old. The plants for stock purposes are usually raised from seed, and when they nave formed some three to six tiers of branches the tops are taken out and put in as cuttings in light sandy compost in a close house or case at a temperature of about 60° F. They are kept shaded from hot sun and damped over frequently until rooted. The stock plants are kept growing and soon break out into new growth in the axils of each of the upper branches. These are all "leader" growths, and when long enough they each furnish a suitable cutting which is treated in the same way as the primary growth or leader. After each of these has been removed for stock, the stem of the stock plant is cut off to the next tier of branches, which in turn will furnish another set of cuttings and so on until the plant is reduced to the bottom layer of branches, when it is discarded and another stock obtained again from seed. It should be pointed out that the branches themselves may be rooted as cuttings, but they always retain their flat asymetrical shape and are useless for stock purposes. (See Fig. 301.)
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{{Two other uses||the crossword compiler|John Galbraith Graham|the city in Brazil|Araucária}}
{{Two other uses||the crossword compiler|John Galbraith Graham|the city in Brazil|Araucária}}
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