Family of conifers that originated in the Triassic and had great splendor in the Jurassic and Cretaceous eras. Along with the extinction of the dinosaurs, the Araucariaceae also became extinct, except for limited occurrences in the Antarctic flora. Their descendants, about 40 species divided into 3 genera, now inhabit South America, Oceania and Southeast Asia.
Evergreen trees, erect in height, up to 50 m tall, with often verticillate branches, thick resinous bark, alternate, squaliform, flattened and lanceolate leaves, whit the young often differing from the adult (heterophyllous).
Male microsporophylls in catkins, female macrosporophylls globose with scales bearing a single ovule.
Strobilus woody, often large, with scales falling off at maturity.
Three genera belong to it, all found in Ligurian and Côte d’Azur coastal gardens: Agathis, Araucaria, and Wollemia.
Araucaria bidwillii Hook
| Etymology | The genus name is derived from Araucanos or the exonym given by the Spanish to the indigenous peoples of Chile and southwestern Argentina, regions where araucarias are widespread. The specific epithet was given in honour of botanist John Carne Bidwill, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney in the first half of the 19th century. |
| Common Name | Bunya Mountains Pine, Widow Tree |
| Origin | Northeast Australia (Queensland) |
| Description | Large evergreen tree that can reach up to 45 m in height in its places of origin; conical-globose height, with long, horizontal branches and elongated, pendulous apical twigs. The trunk has grey-brown, thick, smooth bark. The leaves are lance-shaped, flattened, dark green, with entire margins, acute apex, prickly, up to 5 cm long. Monoecious plant. The male cones appear in spring, are pendulous, cylindrical, up to 20 cm long and arranged on short branches. The female strobili are conspicuous and striking, growing on the upper branches of the tree and ripening at the end of winter; they are elliptical or globular in shape, weigh up to 6 kg, are up to 30 cm long and consist of numerous scales with a triangular apex; each one contains an edible seed, with a good flavour, an elongated elliptical shape and a light colour, protected by a leathery involucre. Germination is special in the sense that the seed first produces a rootlet and then trans-locates nutrients into a tuber, from which the sprout then emerges.. This mechanism is unique among conifers and can take up to two years to complete and give rise to a young plant. The seeds usually remain in the cone until it falls from the tree; seed dispersal is limited in the fall area, but it is believed that in the past there may have been some sort of animal carrier, now extinct, to carry the seeds. Recently, seed collection and dispersal by the arboreal marsupial short-eared opossum (Trichosurus caninus) has been established. In their places of origin, the raw seeds, roasted over embers or ground into flour, provided a highly valued food for indigenous peoples. A. bidwilli was an extremely important tree to native peoples, who considered it sacred. It is a very ornamental plant, both for its habitus with prehistoric connotations and for the nobility of its bearing. However, the spontaneous fall of the female cones requires the plant to be placed in garden locations that are not conducive to visitors. It is not for nothing that it is called the ‘widows’ tree’, according to a popular narrative that saw woodcutters engaged in logging work threatened by its large, free-falling cones. The specimens grown in the gardens of Villa Ormond were planted in the 1930s. |