Ah, as araucárias...

Araucaria angustifolia, the Paraná pine or Brazilian pine (Portuguese: pinheiro-do-paraná or pinheiro brasileiro), is a species in the conifer genus Araucaria. Covering an original area of 233000 km², it is native to southern Brazil (sometimes found in high-altitude areas of southern Minas Gerais, southern Rio de Janeiro and in the east and south of São Paulo, but more typically in the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul), according to a study made by the Brazilian researcher, Maack, the original area of occurrence represented 36,67% of the Paraná state (73088 km²), 60,13% of the Santa Catarina state (57332 km ), 21,6% of the São Paulo state (53613 km²) and 17,38% of the Rio Grande do Sul state (48968 km²); it is found too, in the northeast of Argentina (Misiones and Corrientes) and locally in Paraguay (Alto Paraná), growing in low mountains at altitudes of 500–1800 meters.

It is an evergreen tree growing to 40 m tall and 1 m trunk diameter. The leaves are thick, tough and scale like, triangular, 3–6 cm long, 5–10 mm broad at the base, and with razor-sharp edges and tip. They persist 10 to 15 years, so cover most of the tree except for the trunk and older branches.

Araucaria is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae. There are 19 extant species in the genus, with a highly disjunct distribution in New Caledonia (where 13 species are endemic), Norfolk Island, eastern Australia, New Guinea, Argentina, Chile, and southern Brazil.

Araucariaceae, commonly referred to as araucarians, is a very ancient family of coniferous trees. It achieved its maximum diversity in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, when it was distributed almost worldwide. At the end of the Cretaceous, when dinosaurs became extinct, so too did the Araucariaceae in the northern hemisphere.