Araucaria (family Araucariaceae) A genus of tall, columnar, coniferous trees, in which the crown is monopodial with radial limbs. The leaves are sharply pointed, crowded, and tough. The timber is valuable. A. bidwillii (bunya bunya) of Queensland produces edible seeds. A. angustifolia (Paraña pine) is a major timber tree in Brazil. Norfolk Island pine is A. heterophylla. Monkey-puzzle (A. araucana), native to the southern Andes in Chile and Argentina, also produces edible seeds. There are 18 species, occurring in tropical to temperate forests in New Guinea, Queensland, Melanesia; 2 of the species are found in S. America, and 13 of them in New Caledonia.

Araucariaceae A family of conifers comprising large trees which produce valuable timber. Several species are cultivated. The leaves are broad to lanceolate. The male cone is a catkin; the female is globose and often massive, disintegrating at maturity. There are 2 genera (Agathis and Araucaria), native to the southern hemisphere (but with fossils in the northern hemisphere), and found mainly in Malesia and Melanesia, but also in S. America, and extending north of the equator in Malaysia and the Philippines.

Norfolk Island pine See ARAUCARIA.