inner 5 or 6 inches thick, fungous, tenacious, porous, and light, from which as from almost 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,"
I may say that the district spoken of is not really part of the Andes at all, but a coast range separated from the Andes by a wide tract of low country, mostly covered with forest. And as regards the bark, though I did not see any old trees felled in Chile, the bark of trees of 40–50 years old felled in England does not show bark at all approaching the thickness described. Neither have I seen in the districts I visited myself any trees as tall as he describes, or more than about 120 feet He states that it is also found "juxta oppidum Conceptionis." There are no mountains near Concepcion high enough for the Araucaria, and I think this must be based on false information.
Don Dendariarena goes on to say that "the wood of this tree is of a yellowish white, fibrous, and full of very beautiful veins, capable of being polished and worked with facility. It is probably the best adapted for shipbuilding, as has been shown by the experiments made in the year 1780, in consequence of which orders were given to supply the squadron commanded by Don Antonio Bacaro, then at anchor in the port of Talcahuano."
"The resin abounding in all parts of the tree is white, its smell like that of frankincense, its taste not unpleasant. It is applied in plaster as a powerful remedy for contusions and putrid ulcers, it cicatrises recent wounds, mitigates headaches, and is used as a diuretic, in pills, to facilitate and cleanse venereal ulcers. The Indians make use of the fruit of this tree as a very nourishing food; they eat it raw as well as boiled and roasted, with it they form pastry, and distil from it a spirituous liquor."
Lambert says: "In a letter which I have lately received M. Pavon mentions an important particular, not noticed in the above description, namely, that the male tree is not above half the size of the female, and seldom exceeding 40 feet in height."
I am not able to confirm this from personal observation either in Chile or England, and Dr. Masters[1] says that there is no reliable distinction between the male and female tree, whilst it is said in an account of the Araucarias in the Piltdown Nurseries[2] that the habit of the tree is no guide to the sex.
It was first described by the Abbé Molina, who called it Pinus araucana. Ruiz and Pavon who explored parts of Chile soon afterwards sent specimens to Europe to a Frenchman named Dombey, which were described by Lamarck under the name of Dombeya chilensis, but the generic name he gave cannot stand because it was previously used for a genus of Sterculiaceae.
In 1795 Captain Vancouver visited the coast of Chile, accompanied by Archibald Menzies, who procured some seeds which he sowed on board ship,[3] and succeeded in bringing home living plants, which he gave to Sir Joseph Banks, who planted one of them in his own garden at Spring Grove, and sent the remaining five plants to Kew. One of these, after being kept in the greenhouse till about 1806 or 1808,
