Araucaria subulata

Vieill. 1862

Common names

Narrow-leaf araucaria (Silba 1986).

Taxonomic notes

Synonyms: Eutacta subulata (Vieill.) Carrière 1867, Araucaria balansae Brong. et Griseb. 1871, Eutassa subulata (de Laub.) de Laub. 2009. A molecular analysis places A. subulata into the clade of small-leaved species of New Caledonia, along with A. bernieri, A. schmidii, and A. scopulorum (Gaudeul et al. 2012).

Description

Monoecious evergreen trees to 50 m tall, with a columnar crown. Bark gray, exfoliating in thin strips. Branches in one plane in a sharp V-like pattern or in a U-like pattern, 5-9 mm in diameter. Juvenile leaves needle-like, narrowly lanceolate, curved inwards. Adult leaves scale-like, midrib prominent, lanceolate, curved inwards, 4-6 × 2-2.5 mm, keeled dorsally. Pollen cones cylindrical, 5-10 cm by 12-13 mm, pollen sacs 10, microsporophylls triangular. Seed cones ovoid, 11-12 × 7-9 cm, bracts to 6 mm long. Seeds to 3 cm long, nuts ovate, wings nearly rectangular. Germination epigeal (Silba 1986). See García Esteban et al. (2004) for a detailed characterization of the wood anatomy.

Distribution and Ecology

New Caledonia: Ignambi; Canala; Mt. Dzumac; Mt. des Sources, 320-1900 m (Silba 1986). The IUCN reports that the population status is stable.

This map shows herbarium records of Araucaria species native to New Caledonia. Letter corresponds to first letter of species epithet with different colors for species having same first letter; A. subulata is light blue (A. goroensis coded as A. muelleri, see A. goroensis for discussion). Click on an icon for further information. Distribution data from GBIF (2020.03.30), edited to remove duplicates.

Remarkable Specimens

No data as of 2023.02.23.

Ethnobotany

No data as of 2023.02.23.

Observations

No data as of 2023.02.23.

Remarks

Citations

Gaudeul, M., G. Rouhan, M.F. Gardner, and P.M. Hollingsworth. 2012. AFLP markers provide insights into the evolutionary relationships and diversification of New Caledonian Araucaria species (Araucariaceae). American Journal of Botany 99(1):68-81.

Vieillard, M. E. 1862. Plantes Utiles de La Nouvelle-Calédonie. Annales des Sciences Naturelles; Botanique sér. 4, 16:55 (1862). Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2023.03.04.

See also

Association Endemia, a site devoted to New Caledonian species. Has excellent photos, a range map, and other information. In French.