Coral reef araucaria (Silba 1986).
Syn: A. cookii R. Brown (Silba 1986).
"A narrowly conical tree to 60 m. tall. Trunk clear, then later with numerous short shoots. Bark gray, papery, exfoliating in thin strips. Branchlets cord-like, growing in one plane, 9-10 mm. In diameter. Juvenile leaves needle-like, imbricate, lanceolate, 4-7 mm. long by 2-3 mm. wide, apex incurved. Adult leaves scale-like imbricate, triangular, acuminate, obtuse, midrib faint, 5-7 mm. long by 3-5 mm. wide, apex incurved. Male cone oblong-cylindrical, 5-10 cm. long by 15-22 mm. wide; scales triangular, finely teethed, pollen sacs 10; microsporophylls cuspidate. Female cone 10-15 cm. long by 7-11 cm. wide, with short bracts to 7 mm. long. Seeds 3-3.5 cm. long, nut ovate, wings broadly rounded. Germination epigeal" (Silba 1986).
S New Caledonia: Ouinne to Prony & Isle of Pines, 0-50 m (Silba 1986), and Loyalty Islands (Schmid 1981). Zone 10 (cold hardiness limit between -1°C and +4.4°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001). In my experience, it is also among the most common ornamental Araucarias encountered in climates - such as Hawaii, New Zealand's north island, Queensland, southern California and Mexico - that are warm enough to support it.
The IUCN reports that the population status is stable.
There is a specimen growing as an ornamental at the Tedeschi Winery in Ulupalakua on Maui, Hawaii, that is 48.8 m tall with a dbh of 120 cm (Robert Van Pelt e-mail 1998.03.18).
Have only found one study, exploring its use as a lead indicator (Medeiros et al. 2008).
Medeiros, J.G.S., M. Tomazello, F.J. Krug and A.E.S. Vives. 2008. Tree-ring characterization of Araucaria columnaris Hook and its applicability as a lead indicator in environmental monitoring. Dendrochronologia 26(3):165-171.
Association Endemia, a site devoted to New Caledonian species. Has excellent photos, a range map, and other information. In French.
Last Modified 2012-11-23