Species
+

Araucaria araucana (Molina) K.Koch

Chile pine, Chilean pine, Chilean-pine, Chilska arawkarija

Climate known 78 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Araucaria araucana, commonly called the pewen, monkey-puzzle tree, pehuen or piñonero or Chile pine, is a species of conifer in the family Araucariaceae. It is a tree that grows to a height of 30–40 m (98–131 ft) and a trunk diameter of 1–1.5 m (3.3–4.9 ft). Native to central and southern Chile and western Argentina, it is the hardiest species in the conifer genus Araucaria.

Text from Wikipedia, “Araucaria araucana”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Araucaria

Araucaria is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae. While today they are largely confined to the Southern Hemisphere, during the Jurassic and Cretaceous they were globally distributed. There are 20 extant species in New Caledonia, eastern Australia, New Guinea, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay.

Text from Wikipedia, “Araucaria”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Araucariaceae
Described by
(Molina) K.Koch
Native to
Argentina South, Chile Central, Chile South
Wild records
415 in range· 114 open

At a glance

Warmest month
20°C
Feb, mean day; nights 7 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2336mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 450 mm (CHELSA)
Light
10–52DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a winter growing season, November to March in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 2336 mm a year, wettest June at 450 mm, driest February at 51 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 10 to 52 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -6.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Abies araucana (Molina) Poir.; Araucaria araucana f. virgata Schwer.; Araucaria araucana subsp. conguillioensis Silba; Araucaria araucana var. angustifolia Dallim. & A.B.Jacks.; Araucaria araucana var. aurea (Dallim. & A.B.Jacks.) Dallim. & A.B.Jacks. and 22 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, November to March in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, southern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1654 mm of 2336 mm) falls in May to September, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 2.1 °C against a yearly mean of 6.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: November to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 2336 mm a year, wettest June at 450 mm, driest February at 51 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2336 mm a year at the habitat, 1654 mm of it May to September. Wettest month June at 450 mm, driest February at 51 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1131 mm to 3899 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 10 to 52 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 10 to 52 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 8, the highest 90th-percentile month 55).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -6.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -6.5 °C, the absolute minimum -16.6 °C, about 44 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 28.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -2.5 °C in July (across the envelope cells -5.0 °C to 1.5 °C), warmest day 19.9 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -6.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 4 °C in Jul to 20 °C in Feb; mean night from -3 °C in Jul to 7 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 2336 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 176 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -16.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 28.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°frost28.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)-16.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 10–52RH 56–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 176 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C20 / 17–2220 / 18–2217 / 15–2013 / 10–158 / 6–125 / 3–94 / 2–95 / 3–98 / 6–1111 / 9–1414 / 12–1717 / 15–20
Night °C7 / 5–107 / 5–106 / 4–93 / 1–71 / -2–5-1 / -4–3-3 / -5–2-2 / -5–2-1 / -4–31 / -2–53 / 1–76 / 3–9
Rain mm65 / 33–12851 / 26–9383 / 43–160162 / 83–294376 / 184–625450 / 228–715360 / 163–569294 / 133–472174 / 79–284148 / 67–253101 / 47–18172 / 36–139
DLI52 / 48–5545 / 41–4834 / 29–3722 / 18–2514 / 11–1610 / 8–1313 / 10–1518 / 15–2128 / 25–3237 / 34–4246 / 42–5151 / 47–55
RH %56 / 52–6056 / 52–5958 / 55–6161 / 57–6464 / 60–6766 / 62–6964 / 60–6863 / 60–6661 / 59–6461 / 58–6459 / 56–6358 / 54–62

Each figure is the median across the 176 grid cells holding the 405 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2711:2158 (-45.575, -72.075). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -16.6 °C, 1st-percentile night -6.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 28.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 176 distinct grid cells holding the 405 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2711:2158 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -45.50_-71.875, lapse-corrected -507 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 327 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeArgentina South, Chile Central, Chile South· introduced: Great Britain
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-38.651, -71.62 · in the densest population, 360 records (87% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 415 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 114 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 25 km away. 702 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 10 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 415 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Araucaria araucanaAraucaria araucanaAraucaria araucanaAraucaria araucanaAraucaria araucanaAraucaria araucanaAraucaria araucanaAraucaria araucana

Photographs: (c) Nicolas Olejnik, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Francisco E. Fonturbel, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Jon Mortin, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Lauu, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Araucaria araucana, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

The global spectrum of plant form and function
Sandra Díaz, Jens Kattge, Johannes H. C. Cornelissen, Ian J. Wright (2015) · Nature
Unidades de vegetación de la Argentina
Mariano Oyarzábal, José Clavijo, Luis J. Oakley, Fernando Biganzoli (2018) · Ecología Austral
Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa – 2021
NN Wijayawardene, KD Hyde, DQ Dai, Marisol Sánchez‐García (2022) · Mycosphere
Phylogeographical patterns shed light on evolutionary process in S outh A merica
Andreia Carina Turchetto‐Zolet, Fábio Pinheiro, Fabiano Salgueiro, Clarisse Palma‐Silva (2012) · Molecular Ecology
Conifers as invasive aliens: a global survey and predictive framework
David M. Richardson, Marcel Rejmánek (2004) · Diversity and Distributions
Controlling invasive plant species in ecological restoration: A global review
Emanuela W. A. Weidlich, Flávia Garcia Florido, Taísi B. Sorrini, Pedro H. S. Brancalion (2020) · Journal of Applied Ecology
A review of wild boar S us scrofadiet and factors affecting food selection in native and introduced ranges
Sebastián A. Ballari, M. Noelia Barrios‐García (2013) · Mammal Review
Review of plant biogeographic studies in Brazil
Pedro Fiaschi, José Rubens Pirani (2009) · Journal of Systematics and Evolution
Fire‐adapted traits of Pinus arose in the fiery Cretaceous
Tianhua He, Juli G. Pausas, Claire M. Belcher, Dylan W. Schwilk (2012) · New Phytologist
Enantiomeric Natural Products: Occurrence and Biogenesis
Jennifer M. Finefield, David H. Sherman, Martin Kreitman, Robert M. Williams (2012) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Global effects of non‐native tree species on multiple ecosystem services
Pilar Castro‐Díez, Ana Sofía Vaz, Joaquim S. Silva, Marcela van Loo (2019) · Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Araucaria 5 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 85 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.