CONIFERALES – ARAUCARIACEAE
Morphological description
Medium-sized to very large trees.
Leaves
Leaves spiral (Araucaria) or opposite (Agathis), simple, entire, venation longitudinal. Leaves scales or needle-like, but in Agathis broad, opposite, leaves with parallel venation may be found.
Inflorescence/seeds
Plants monoecious. Female cones large and disintegrating when the seeds are ripe. Seeds with winglike structure. Pollen produced in cylindrical solitary cones, placed terminal or axillary on other branches than those bearing the seed cones.
Distribution: Widespread in tropics of the southern hemisphere. The Malesian species belong to 2 genera: - (Agathis, Araucaria); the third genus Wollemia occurs only in a small part of Australia; - Most species occur in lowland, others in the tropical highlands.
Notes: Several species produce excellent softwood timber. — Resin (copal=dammar): Agathis. — Some species planted as ornamentals: Agathis, Araucaria.
Literature: D.J. de Laubenfels, Fl. Males. I, 10 (1984) 419-444.
Spot characters (Van Balgooy): All Araucariacea: Proleptic shoots, resinous exudate, inflorescence compact, fruit compound - Agathis crushed leaves resinous smell (of turpentine), seeds winged; Araucaria leaves tearing with silky-thread connections,
Illustrations in Plant portraits: Fig. 36. Agathis labillardieri Warb.: a. twig with male cone; b. twig with female cone.
Image in PhytoImages for Agathis
Image in PhytoImages for Araucaria
Image in PhytoImages for Araucariaceae