Araucaria sp.
Scientific Name: Araucaria sp.
Family: Araucariaceae
Common Name: New Caledonian Pine
Hindi Name: ऐरोकेरिया
Description: Trees grow upto 50 m tall; trunk to 1.5 m d.b.h.; trunk straight; bark dark gray, flaking; crown tower-shaped; branchlets spreading horizontally or drooping; lateral branchlets usually pinnately arranged, drooping. Leaves dimorphic: those of young trees and lateral branchlets loosely arranged, spreading openly, bright green, glaucous abaxially, subulate, usually laterally depressed, upcurved, 3- or 4-ridged; those of mature trees and cone-bearing branchlets densely arranged, slightly openly spreading, broadly ovate or triangular-ovate, ± curved, 5-9 mm, widest at base, midvein obviously raised or not, apex obtuse. Pollen cones terminal, solitary. Seed cones subglobose, sometimes wider than long; apex of bracts triangular, flattened, acute, upcurved. Seeds ellipsoid, slightly flattened, with a lateral wing.
Economic Importance: Indigenous people harvested edible seeds and utilized this tree's lumber. Commercial use has been discouraged to protect this vulnerable species from decline. Popularly used in decoration as Christmas tree during Christmas and New year.