Editing Araucaria araucana (section)

== Cultivation and uses ==
''Araucaria araucana'' is a popular garden tree, planted for the unusual effect of its thick, "reptilian" branches with very symmetrical appearance. It prefers temperate climates with abundant rainfall, tolerating temperatures down to about {{convert|-20|C}}. It is far and away the hardiest member of its genus, and can grow well in western and central [[Europe]] (north to the [[Faroe Islands]] and [[Smøla (island)|Smøla]]<ref name="Palms in Scandinavia">{{Cite web|url=http://www.scanpalm.no/araucaria_english.html |title=Araucaria araucana in Ålesund, Norway |publisher=Scanpalm |access-date=27 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091009232055/http://www.scanpalm.no/araucaria_english.html |archive-date=9 October 2009 }}</ref> in western [[Norway]]), the west coast of [[North America]] (north to Baranof Island in Alaska), and locally on the east coast, as far north as [[Long Island]], and in [[New Zealand]], southeastern [[Australia]] and south east Ireland. It is tolerant of coastal [[salt spray]], but does not tolerate exposure to [[pollution]].{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}

[[File:Piñones de araucaria cocinados.jpg|thumb|upright|right|The piñones are similar to [[pine nuts]], but larger; these roasted seeds are 3&nbsp;cm and 5&nbsp;cm long, from two different [[cultivars]]. ]]
Its seeds ({{langx|arn|ngulliw}}, {{langx|es|piñones}}) are edible,<ref name=global /> similar to large [[pine nut]]s, and are harvested by indigenous peoples in Argentina and Chile.<ref>Gallo, L., F. Izquierdo, L.J. Sanguinetti, A. Pinna, G. Siffredi, J. Ayesa, C. Lopez, A. Pelliza, N. Strizler, M. Gonzales Peñalba, L. Maresca and L. Chauchard. 2004. ''Araucaria araucana'' forest genetic resources in Argentina. Pages 105–132 in Barbara Vinceti, Weber Amaral and Brien Meilleur (eds). Challenges in managing forest genetic resources for livelihoods: examples from Argentina and Brazil. [[International Plant Genetic Resources Institute]]. 271 pp.</ref> The tree has some potential to be a food crop in other areas in the future, thriving in climates with cool oceanic summers, e.g., western [[Scotland]], where other nut crops do not grow well.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/its-hard-to-be-leaf-but-scotland-can-save-the-monkey-puzzle-tree-from-extinction/|title=It's hard to be leaf but Scotland can save the monkey puzzle tree from extinction|date=28 November 2017 }}</ref> A group of six female trees with one male for pollination could yield several thousand seeds per year. Since the cones drop, harvesting is easy. The tree, however, does not yield seeds until it is around 30 to 40 years old, which discourages investment in planting orchards (although yields at maturity can be immense); once established, individuals can achieve ages beyond 1,000 years.<ref name="Luning-et-al-2019">{{cite journal | last1=Lüning | first1=Sebastian | last2=Gałka | first2=Mariusz | last3=Bamonte | first3=Florencia Paula | last4=Rodríguez | first4=Felipe García | last5=Vahrenholt | first5=Fritz | title=The Medieval Climate Anomaly in South America | journal=[[Quaternary International]] | publisher=[[International Union for Quaternary Research]] ([[Elsevier]]) | volume=508 | year=2019 | issn=1040-6182 | doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2018.10.041 | pages=70–87 | bibcode=2019QuInt.508...70L | s2cid=133405753| url=https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00497/60854/101604.pdf }}</ref><ref name="Betti-et-al-2017">{{cite journal | last1=Aguilera-Betti | first1=Isabella | last2=Muñoz | first2=Ariel A. | last3=Stahle | first3=Daniel | last4=Figueroa | first4=Gino | last5=Duarte | first5=Fernando | last6=González-Reyes | first6=Álvaro | last7=Christie | first7=Duncan | last8=Lara | first8=Antonio | last9=González | first9=Mauro E. | last10=Sheppard | first10=Paul R. | last11=Sauchyn | first11=David | last12=Moreira-Muñoz | first12=Andrés | last13=Toledo-Guerrero | first13=Isadora | last14=Olea | first14=Matías | last15=Apaz | first15=Pablo | last16=Fernandez | first16=Alfonso | title=The First Millennium-Age ''Araucaria Araucana'' in Patagonia | journal=[[Tree-Ring Research]] | publisher=[[Tree-Ring Society]] | volume=73 | issue=1 | year=2017 | issn=1536-1098 | doi=10.3959/1536-1098-73.1.53 | pages=53–56| s2cid=133405753 }}</ref> Pest losses to rodents and [[feral]] ''[[Sus scrofa]]'' limits the yields for human consumption and forage fattening of livestock by ''A. araucana'' [[mast (botany)|mast]].<ref name="Sanguinetti-Kitzberger-2010" /> ''A. araucana'' has a high degree of inter-year variability in mast volume, and this variation is synchronous within a given area.<ref name="Sanguinetti-Kitzberger-2008" /> This evolved to take advantage of [[predator satiation|predator satiety]].<ref name="Sanguinetti-Kitzberger-2008" />

Once valued because of its long, straight trunk, its current rarity and vulnerable status mean its [[wood]] is now rarely used; it is also sacred to some [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous]] [[Mapuche]].<ref>{{Cite book| author= Anna Lewington| author2= Edward Parker| name-list-style= amp | title=Ancient Trees| publisher=[[Collins & Brown]] | year=1999| isbn=978-1-85585-974-6}}</ref> Timber from these trees, was used for railway sleepers in order to access many industrial areas around the port of Chile.  Before the tree became protected by law in 1971, lumber mills in [[Araucanía Region]] specialized in Chilean pine.

The species is protected under Appendix I of the [[Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species]] (CITES) meaning international trade (including in parts and derivatives) is regulated by the CITES permitting system and commercial trade in wild sourced specimens is prohibited.<ref name="CITES"/>

Many young specimens and seeds were brought or sent back to the UK by Cornish miners in the nineteenth century, during the [[Cornish diaspora]], and as a result Cornwall is reckoned to have a high genetic diversity of the species. [[Christopher Nigel Page]], a botanist working at [[Camborne School of Mines]], [[University of Exeter]] planted specimens in disused [[china clay]] pits in the [[St Austell]] area as part of his research into [[regreening]] former extractive minerals sites, which he presented in 2017 in the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|UK Parliament]], with Professor Hylke Glass, also of CSM, as co-author.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scienceinparliament.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/SiP-September-20171.pdf|publisher=Science in Parliament|title=Regreening of barren lands as new biodiversity reserves|date=Summer 2017|access-date=13 February 2024}}</ref>