Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria heterophylla)

1. Some believe that the scientific language is dry and rigorous, lacking any poeticity. On the occasion of investigating the origin of the name Araucaria heterophylla, we will try to reverse this claim. So we start with the word Araucaria. Araucaria, the name of the genus, is a New Latin word, composed of ‘Arauco’ and ‘aria’. The first one has a little to very adventurous origin: it comes from the word ‘Arauco’ of Mapuche people, native to present-day in Chile and Argentina, and means ‘chalky water’. The area in Chile inhabited by Mapuche, the Spanish colonists called it Araucania, and botanists, since the genus numbered a few endemic species there, used it appropriately. The second word, the ‘aria’, has a less adventurous origin: it is of Italian origin and is a suffix of the Latin ‘āerem’, which derives from the ancient Greek word ‘ἀήρ’ which means ‘air’. It is now easy to understand that Araucaria means ‘air of chalky water’ or ‘alkaline aerated water’.

… Are there still those who consider that the scientific language is rigorous, lacking any poeticity, even if in fact the ‘-aria’ suffix only means that something ‘belongs to’ and merely contributes to the production of the New Latin composite word?

2. And if they still exist and persist, let’s learn the origin of ‘heterophylla’, or change their minds: it is also a compound word, composed of the ancient ‘έτερον’ and ‘φύλλον’, meaning ‘different leaves’, describing the heteromorphy observed between the young and mature leaves of the same tree.

… How many more images can fit in a single word?