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Scientific name: Araucaria rulei F.J. Mueller 1860
Synonyms: Araucaria excelsa var. goldieana (T.Moore) Raffill, Araucaria goldieana T.Moore, Araucaria van-gaertii Dallim. & A.B.Jacks., Eutacta rulei (F.Muell.) Carrière, Eutassa rulei (F.Muell.) de Laub.
Common names: Rule araucaria, Graceful pine
Description
Tree to 20-25(-30) m tall under favorable conditions but often shorter, with trunk to 0.3(-0.6) m in diameter. Bark dark brown at first, weathering stark white, peeling in horizontal strips or later in irregular patches. Crown deeply and broadly dome-shaped, with numerous, widely spaced, original and replacement tiers of four (or five) slender branches up to4 m long, bearing additional upright secondary branches on their upper sides near the trunk, abruptly turned up at their tips, and bearing compact tufts of radiating, upright branchlets densely clothed with foliage. Branchlets up to50 cm long, ropelike, coarse, 2.5-3 cm thick, including the leaves, by which they are largely hidden, remaining green 2-3 years before being shed intact. Juvenile leaves clawlike, narrowly triangular, standing out from the twig at a forward angle, with leaves of varying lengths intermixed rather than in graded arrangements, 12-15 mm long, 6-8 mm wide. Adult leaves glossy dark green, scalelike, pointedly egg-shaped, keeled on the outer (lower) face and bowed outward around the midline, curved inward, densely overlapping, stiff, leathery to hard, quite variable in size and differing from plant to plant, (15-)20-25 mm long, 11-14 mm wide. Stomates in line with, tilted away from or at right angles to the long axis of the leaf, in variably spaced, discontinuous rows making up a broad band on the inner (upper) face and two patches on either side of the keel at the base of the outer face where hidden by overlapping leaves. Pollen cones (5-)12-15 cm long, 3-3,5 cm wide, each pollen scale with 12-15 pollen sacs in two or three rows. Seed cones a little longer than spherical, 10-12 cm long by 8-9 cm thick, dark green at maturity with red free bract tips. Seed scales 3-3.5 cm long, 2.5-3 cm wide including the narrow, papery wings 4-7 mm wide, with a thornlike, flat, upturned tip 1.5-2 cm long. Seeds 1.5-2 cm long and 7-10 mm wide. Cotyledons appearing above ground during germination. The species name honors John Rule, a Melbourne plantsman whose botanical collector, W. Duncan, found the species in New Caledonia and thus brought it to the attention of plant taxonomists.
Throughout the main island of New Caledonia, with localities more concentrated in the south. Forming open woodlands on mountain slopes above a shrubby hardwood understory on rocky thin red soils derived from serpentine; (150-)400-1,200 m.
Conservation Status
Red List Category & Criteria: Endangered
Araucaria rulei is assessed as Endangered as it meets the following criteria: Its area of occupancy (AOO) is considerably less than 500 km2. Herbarium records overlaid by a four square kilometre grid indicate an AOO of about 120 km2. The subpopulations are considered to be severely fragmented due to their geographic, ecological and edaphic isolation from each other. A continuing decline in the area of occupancy and the quality of habitat has been observed and is projected to continue. Additionally, it is estimated that there has been a population decline of more than 50% over the last 100 years, most of which has occurred in the last decade. The reduction in the area of occupancy and the population decline are the direct result of open cast mining and associated activities and impacts such as road building, spoil dumping and wildfires. Araucaria rulei is almost totally restricted to nickel rich areas and these have been and continue to be heavily exploited. In some areas (e.g. Tiébaghi), this species has been included in restoration and rehabilitation work but this is still at an early stage.
Araucaria rulei has a wide but discontinuous distribution in New Caledonia. Most subpopulations are concentrated around Mt Boulinda and Paéoua in the northwest or in the Canala and Poro area on the central northeast coast. Occurs from 400 to 1,200 m.
Population size can vary from several thousand trees scattered over several kilometres to just a few localized trees. Trees are usually scattered and rarely form dense stands.
The species has experienced severe declines because of nickel mining (and associated) activities. In general, it regenerates poorly and grows slowly. None of the subpopulations are protected.
References
Copyright © Aljos Farjon, James E. Eckenwalder, IUCN, Conifers Garden. All rights reserved.
