THE GENUS ARAUCARIA.
Araucaria imbricata, the only hardy species, is a very singular tree. The trunk is quite straight, with a strong leading shoot, and whorls of branches of great length, and far apart from each other, covered closely with scale-like leaves. These large horizontal arms, clothed with closely imbricated leaves, resemble, in the young trees, snakes partly coiled round the trunk, and stretching out their long, slender, flexible bodies in quest of prey. The male and female flowers are on different trees. The male catkins are cone-shaped, the scales serving as filaments to the anthers produced at their base. The cone is round and very large, with numerous wedge-shaped scales, and large eatable seeds or nuts, which have each a short, callous, marginal wing. The trunk is covered with a very thick corky bark; the wood is white, finely grained, and durable. The trees when wounded yield a milky juice, which hardens into a fine yellow resin; and the kernel of the nut, which is as large as an almond, is used by the Indians as an important article of food. The tree is a native of the Andes of Peru, and when first introduced it was called the Chilian Pine. It has now become quite common in this country, and the Earl of Harrington has planted an avenue with it at Elvaston Castle.
There are several species, but the other kinds are too tender to bear British winters without protection. The Norfolk Island Pine (A. excelsa) is a splendid tree, with light feathery foliage; as is the Moreton Bay Pine (A. Cunninghami).
§ II. CUPRESSINEÆ.—THE CYPRESS TRIBE.
Most of the plants contained in this section are evergreen shrubs or low trees, but some of them attain a considerable size. Only one species, the deciduous Cypress, loses its leaves in winter. Many of the species are only half-hardy in Britain, and none of them are grown in this country for their timber. They all exude resin occasionally from their leaves and branches, but none of them produce turpentine. The catkins are but few flowered, and the cones are roundish. The leaves are frequently imbricated, at least when young; though in many of the species they vary considerably, even on the same tree.
THE GENUS THUJA.—THE ARBOR VITÆ.