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Family Araucariaceae
Norfolk pine
Araucaria heterophylla (Salisb.) Franco
STAR PINE
Nuo he ke nan yang shan

Scientific names Common names
Araucaria excelsa var. glauca Carriére Araucaria (Engl.)
Araucaria heterophylla (Salisb.) Franco Australian pine (Engl.)
Eutacta excelsa var. glauca (Carriére) Carriére House pine (Engl.)
Eutassa heterophylla Salisb. Australian pine (Engl.)
  Living christmas tree (Engl.)
  Norfolk Island pine (Engl.)
  Norfolk pine (Baguio)
  Star pine (Engl.)
  Triangle tree (Engl.)
Araucaria heterophylla (Salisb.) Franco is an accepted name. The Plant List

Other vernacular names
CHINESE: Nan yang shan.
DANISH: Norfolk-gran.
DUTCH: Kamerden, Norfolk-araucaria, Norfolk-den.
FINNISH: Huonearaukaria, Huonekuusi, Norfolkinaraukaria.
FRENCH: Araucaria de l'île de Norfolk, Pin de Norfolk.
GERMAN: Edeltanne, Norfolktanne, Norfolk-Tanne, Zimmertanne.
ITALIAN: Araucaria di Norfolk.
JAPANESE: Kobano na nyou sugi, Noofooku matsu, Shima nanyou sugi.
PORTUGUESE: Araucária-de-Norfolk.
SPANISH: Pino de Norfolk, Pino de pisos, Araucaria de pisos.
SWEDISH: Rumsgran.
VIETNAMESE: Bach tan.

Botany
Norfolk pine is a cone-shaped evergreen tree growing 15 meters high, with lateral branches from the main trunk arranged in whorls. Branches are longest at the base, gradually becoming shorted upwards. Leaves are small, needle-like, crowded along the branches and branchlets.

Distribution
- Widely distributed in the Philippines.
- Planted in parks and gardens.
- Native to Norfolk Island.
- Classified as "vulnerable" in the IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species. (8)

Constituents
- Study of resin collected from the stem exudates yielded three labdane diterpenes, labda-8(17),14-diene, 13-epicupressic acid, and 13-O- acetyl-13-epicupressic acid. (see studies below) (3)
- Preliminary phytochemical screening of aqueous extract of leaves of A. heterophylla yielded alkaloids, flavanoids, sterols, cardiac glycosides, saponins, tannins, phenols, and terpenoids. (10)
- Foliage oil of A. heterophylla was dominated by 13-epi-dolabradiene (42.7%), beyerene (22.2%), rimuene (13.7%), and dolabradiene (3.9%). Main constituents of resin oil were α-copaene (29.9%), germacrene D (21.4%), γ-gurjunene (9.7%), δ-cadinene (7.1%), and sandaracopimara-8(14),15-diene (6.5%) as main constituents. (see study below) (11)

Parts used
Resin.

Uses

Folkloric
No reported folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.

Studies
Antiulcerogenic / Resin from Stem Exudate:
Resin isolated from stem exudates showed anti-ulcerogenic activity against ethanol-induced stomach ulcers in Sprague Dawley rats using ranitidine as standard. (3)
Resin / Cytotoxicity / Breast and Colon Cancer Lines: Resin and isolated compounds showed variable cytotoxic activities against breast (MCF7) and colon (HCT116) cancer cell lines. The in vitro cytotoxic effect of the resin extract was comparable to the reference drug Doxorubicin. Effect may be a synergism effect of the diterpene content. (3)
Biosorbent / Chromium Removal: Study showed Araucaria leaves has the potential for a cheap and efficient biosorbent for toxic hexavalent chromium removal from natural and waste waters. (4)
Phytoremediation / Leaf Biomass / Pb+2 Removal: Study showed A. heterophylla leaf powder can be used as an effective, low cost, and environmentally friendly biosorbent for removal of Pb+2 from aqueous solution. (5)
Air-Purifying: Araucaria heterophylla is one of 50 plants (30/50) listed by a NASA study to have air purifying property. Norfolk pine is reported to absorb formaldehyde. (6)
• Mucilage / Potential as Excipient: Mucilage was obtained by extraction from the bark exudates of A. heterophylla. Mucilage showed the presence of reducing sugars and starch. Swelling capacity and gelatinization suggested a potential for use as pharmaceutical excipient. (9) Study evaluated and characterized gum obtained from stem of Araucaria heterophylla for use as natural excipient. In vivo study done on wistar albino rats for oral acute toxicity showed non toxic results and zero mortality in animals. (12)
• Antibacterial Study / Essential Oils of Folliage and Resin: Study evaluated the essential oils of foliage and resin of Araucaria cunninghamii and Araucaria heterophylla by hydrodistillation and GC/FID and GC-MS analysis. Foliage and resin essential oils of both species showed MICs in range of 250-500 µg/mL and MBC in range of 1000 to >1000 µg/mL against tested bacterial strains. (see constituents above) (11)
- Acute Oral Toxicity / Gum: Study evaluated the LD50 of isolated Araucaria heterophylla natural polysaccharide gum by acute oral toxicity study in healthy albino mice using OECD guidelines. The LD50 of isolated AH gum was found to be more than 2000 mg/kg body weight. No significant changes were noted in the wellness parameters as well as no mortality in animals. Results confirms AH gum did not cause apparent toxicity in the animal model. (15)

Caution / Toxicity / Risks
- All plant parts reportedly toxic to dogs and cats.
(13)
- Toxicity in cats have been associated with ingestion of needles and water sources. Poisoning is suggested by gastrointestinal upsets (anorexia, diarrhea, vomiting, and mouth irritation) and dermatitis. The toxic principles are unknown. Preservative chemicals that are sprayed on trees and the water in which the plant is placed are suspect sources of poisoning. (14)
- In a Risk Assessment Study, Araucaria heterophylla attained a Low Risk (-5) score. (16)

Availability
- Cultivated.
- Seeds in the cybermarket.


Updated May 2018 / August 2014
April 2013



IMAGE SOURCE: Photo / File:Araucaria heterophylla Warsaw zoo słoniarnia 01.JPG / Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria heterophylla) foliage in Warsaw zoo / 10-05-2009 / Crusier / GNU Free Documentation License, / Click on image to go to source page / Wikimedia Commons
OTHER IMAGE SOURCE: Photo / File:Norfolkpine001.jpg / Araucaria heterophylla (Norfolk Island pines), Ōhope, near Whakatāne, New Zealand. / 14 DEC 2006/ Kahuroa / Public Domain / Click on image to go to source page / Wikimedia Commons

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Sorting Araucaria names / Authorised by Prof. Snow Barlow / Maintained by: Michel H. Porcher / MULTILINGUAL MULTISCRIPT PLANT NAME DATABASE / Copyright © 1997 - 2000 The University of Melbourne.
(2)
Araucaria heterophylla (Salisb.) Franco (accepted name) / Chinese names / Catalogue of Life, China
(3)
Chemical and Biological Investigation of Araucaria heterophylla Salisb. Resin
/ Essam Abdel-Sattar*, Azza R. Abdel Monem, Shahira M. Ezzat, Ali M. El-Halawany, and Samar M. Mouneir /
(4)
Efficient biosorption of chromium(VI) ion by dry Araucaria leaves / Dhara Shukla, Padma S Vankar / Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur / Publ at Research Gate
(5)
Potential use of leaf biomass, Araucaria heterophylla for removal of Pb+2. / Sarada B, Prasad MK, Kumar KK, Murthy ChV. / Int J Phytoremediation. 2013;15(8):756-73.
(6)
50 Plants that Clean the Air in your Home or Office / The Air Cleaning Experiments
(7)
Araucaria heterophylla / Synonyms / The Plant List
(8)
Araucaria heterophylla / IUCN Red List / Thomas, P. 2011.  Araucaria heterophylla. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2011: e.T30497A9548582. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-2.RLTS.T30497A9548582.enDownloaded on 11 May 2018.
(9)
Isolation and characterization of Araucaria heterophylla mucilage. / Satheesh Babu Natarajan et al / International Journal of Phytopharmacy Research (2012); Vol 3, Issue 1: pp 6-8.
(10)
PRELIMINARY PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING OF ARAUCARIA HETEROPHYLLA LEAVES / G. Rohit Reddy*, D. Rakesh Goud, P. Hrudaya Ranjani, P. Shruthi kirthi / WORLD JOURNAL OF PHARMACY AND PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES, Volume 6, Issue 1: pp 991-997
(11)
Chemical composition and antibacterial activity of foliage and resin essential oils of Araucaria cunninghamii Aiton ex D.Don and Araucaria heterophylla (Salisb.) Franco from India / Ram Verma, Rajendra C Padalia, Prakash Goswamia, Sajendra K Verma / AGRIS: INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR THE AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(12)
ISOLATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND EVALUATION OF NATURAL EXCIPIENT ARAUCARIA HETEROPHYLLA GUM 
/ Amol Patil*, Avinash Darekar, Ravindranath Saudagar /  Inventi Rapid: Novel Excipients, 2014; (4):1-9
(13)
Plants Toxic to Dogs & Cats / The Garden Factory Inc.
(14)
Norfolk Island Pine Poisoning in Cats / WagWalking
(15)
ISOLATION AND ACUTE ORAL TOXICITY STUDIES OF ARAUCARIA HETEROPHYLLA NOVEL NATURAL POLYSACCHARIDE GUM IN ALBINO MICE / Hema Naga Durga Divvela*, Lohithasu Duppala, and Venkata Ramana Murthy / WORLD JOURNAL OF PHARMACY AND PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES, Vool 5, Issue 10: pp 702-711
(16)
Araucaria heterophylla: Risk Assessment / PIER

It is not uncommon for links on studies/sources to change. Copying and pasting the information on the search window or using the DOI (if available) will often redirect to the new link page.

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