Araucaria luxurians

(Brong. & Gris) de Laub. 1972

Common names

Coast araucaria (Silba 1986).

Taxonomic notes

Synonymy:

• Araucaria cookii var. luxurians Brongn. et Gris 1871
• Araucaria rulei var. patens Bars. 1909
• A. columnaris (G. Forst) Hook. f. luxurians (Brongn. et Gris.) E.H. Wilson 1926
• Eutassa luxurians (Brongn. et Gris) de Laub. 2009

A molecular analysis places Araucaria luxurians into the clade of coastal species of New Caledonia, along with A. columnaris and A. nemorosa (Gaudeul et al. 2012).

Description

Monoecious evergreen trees to 30 m tall with a dense rounded crown. Bark gray, exfoliating in thin strips. Twigs multi-stemmed at ends forming a fan-shaped branchlet 10-18 mm in diameter. Juvenile leaves scale-like, ovate, non-flattened, spreading, 6-12 mm long. Adult leaves imbricate, scale-like, ovate, 5-7 × 4-5 mm, midrib prominent. Pollen cones cylindrical, 12-17 cm by 25-28 mm, scales triangular and acuminate, microsporophylls oval, pollen sacs 12-15. Seed cones 10-12 × 8-10 cm; bracts short and stout, to 10 mm long. Seed 3-3.5 cm long with an elongated nut and triangular wings. Germination epigeal (Silba 1986).

Distribution and Ecology

S New Caledonia: along the coast, type near Canala, 200-1400 m (Silba 1986).

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

The IUCN reports that this species is facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild due to a limited and severely fragmented distribution that is experiencing ongoing declines in extent of habitat, number of subpopulations, and number of mature individuals. The surviving plants number no more than 2,500 mature individuals, with no more than 250 in any subpopulation.

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.

See also

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

The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.

de Laubenfels (1972).