ar·au·car·i·a (?r?ou-k?r??-?)n. Any of several evergreen coniferous trees of the genus Araucaria native to South America, Australia, and islands of the southwest Pacific Ocean, having awl-shaped leaves and whorled branches and including Norfolk lsland pine.[From Spanish Araucaria, (tree) of Arauco, a former province of south-central Chile.]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.araucaria (?ær???k??r??) n (Plants) any tree of the coniferous genus Araucaria of South America, Australia, and Polynesia, such as the monkey puzzle and bunya-bunya[C19: from New Latin (arbor) Araucaria (tree) from Arauco, a province in Chile]Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014ar?au?car?i?a (?ær ??k??r i ?) n., pl. -car?i?as. any of several South American and Australasian trees of the genus Araucaria, of the monkey puzzle family, as the Norfolk Island pine. [1825?35;