ARAUCARIA. Juss.
DOMBEYA. Lam.
FINI SP. Molin.
D E S C R IP T IO .
Flores dioici. Masc. Amentum dipsaciforme, ovato-cylindricum. Squamæ numerosæ, sessiles, imbricatim ad
axim communem conicum compactæ, filamentorum æmulæ, obovatæ, subbgnosæ, acumine oblongo
reflexo. Antheroe numerosæ, oblongæ, biloculares paulô infra acumen squamarum connatæ, posteà de-
pendentes, liberæ, initio squamis adpressæ, tandêm, emisso polline, divaricatæ.
Foem. Amentum ovatum, in quo squamæ numerosæ, cunéiformes, bifloræ. Germen cunéiforme, compressum
duobus lateribus oppositis. Stylus nullus. Stigma bivalve, callosum, crassum: valvularum exterior
ovato-acuminata, major, concava, acumine lineari inflexoj interior minor, sublinearis, obtusa, erecta.
Pericarpium: Strobilus sphærico-ovatus, cujus squamæ conniventes, coriaceo-Iignosæ, cunéiformes, acumine
longo subulato terminatæ, dispermæ. Semen : Nux cuneiformis, apice terminata alâ brevi, callosâ,
marginali, basi obtusè tetragona, dehinc gibba, superné compressa, lateribus oppositis: tegumento cori-
aceo. Nucleus ejusdem figuræ. Pavon Dissert. in Mem. Acad. Reg. Med. Matrit. I. p. 1Q7.
This genus belongs to the sixteenth class of the Linnaean system, called Monadelphia, and to the Natural
Order Coniferce of Jussieu and Linnmus.
In the month of September, 1782, I left, for some time, my companion Don Hippolito Ruiz, and visited
the mountains named Caramavida and Naguelbuta belonging to the Llanista, Peguen and Araucano Indians.
I spared neither pains nor expense in fulfilling the object of my mission, and amongst many plants, which
were the result of my two months excursion, I found in flower and fruit the tree which I am about to
describe.
The chain or Cordillera of the Andes offers to the view in general a rocky soil, and in parts wet and boggy,
on account of the abundance of rain and snow, which fall in these regions, similar to many provinces of Spain.
There are to be seen large forests of this tree, which rises to the amazing height of 150 feet: its trunk is
quite straight and without knots, ending in a pyramid formed of horizontal branches, which decrease in length
gradually towards the top, and is covered with a double bark: the inner is five or six inches thick, fungous,
tenacious, porous and light, from which as almost from all other parts flows resin in abundance: the outer is of
nearly equal thickness, resembling Cork cleft in various directions, and equally resinous with the inner,
F