araucarian

noun

ar·​au·​car·​i·​an ˌa-ˌrȯ-ˈka-rē-ən 

-ˈker-ē-

plural araucarians

: a tree of the family Araucariaceae and especially of the genus Araucaria

Buried along with it were the remains of other dinosaurs, as well as lung fish, teeth and plant debris including fronds of an araucarian, the modern representatives of which are the familiar monkey puzzle tree and Norfolk Island pine …

—Tom Rich, The Age (Melbourne, Australia), 28 Mar. 1994

araucarian adjective

… the Southern Hemisphere may have acted as a refuge for certain groups of ancient organisms, such as araucarian conifers and ratites (emus, ostrich, and rheas), which have predominantly southern distributions.

—Tim Flannery, Science, 23 Nov. 2001

Word History

Etymology

araucaria + -an entry 1

First Known Use

1832, in the meaning defined above

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Rhymes for araucarian

• antiquarian
• libertarian
• millenarian
• nonsectarian
• proletarian
• sanitarian
• trinitarian
• unitarian
• vegetarian
• veterinarian
• agrarian
• aquarian