KNOW A TREE
CHRISTMAS TREE OF INDIA
Christmas is the season of joy. The Christmas tree, since ages, has been thought to offer joy, positivism, and the spirit of optimism. Araucaria columnaris or cook pine is known as the Christmas tree of India. It is an evergreen conifer species belonging to the family Araucariaceae.
The tree is native to Cook Island, north-east of Australia in the South Pacific and hence the name Cook pine. The tree is also known as Captain Cook’s pine, named after Captain James Cook, a British explorer and a Captain in the Navy. He discovered the trees in Cook island in one of his voyages.
Cook pine prefers a sub-tropical, temperate climate. The trees grow up to 50–60m but are usually grown as a houseplant in pots. The young potted plants are used for Christmas trees. Christian belief holds that Christmas trees symbolize the birth and resurrection of Christ. The tree’s branches and shrubs are considered symbols of immortality and represent the crown of thorns that Christ wore on the cross.
The first person to bring a Christmas Tree into a house, may have been the 16th century German preacher Martin Luther. According to legend, he was walking through the forest one night before Christmas and glanced up to see the stars gleaming through the tree branches. He returned home and told his children that it reminded him of Jesus, who left the stars of heaven to come to earth for Christmas. As a result, he brought a tree into his home and decked it out with candles to symbolise the stars.
The tree is conical in shape with horizontal branches that grow in a whorl around the main stem. The slightly slanting trunk is the peculiarity of this Araucaria species. The leaves are dark green, spirally dense, and closely overlapping twigs, giving a plaited coir appearance.
The juvenile leaves are needles, while the adult leaves are scale-like and triangular. Cook pine shed its lower branches and regenerates from its adventitious branches. The tree is dioecious, male and female cones in separate trees. The cones are borne at the tip of branches. The bark is rough, papery (peeling off in strips), dark grey to brown, and resinous.
The smell and appearance of the resin are similar to that of White dammar, locally known as Kunthirikyam, from the Boswellia species. These extracts are a defence mechanism for the tree against insects and pests. Some studies show that the resin from Araucaria species acts as a binder in tablet formulation. The resin is also used in perfumes and other cosmetic products.
Cook pine is grown as an ornamental plant of landscapes. The tree is also grown for timber. The softwood is lightweight, straw-coloured and decorative, used in making furniture and bowls.
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