Its total wood volume is calculated to be 516.7 m3 (18,250 cu ft),[4] making it the third-largest conifer after Sequoia and Sequoiadendron (both from the Cupressaceae subfamily Sequoioideae).

They are spherical to ovoid in shape and borne erect on thick, short shoots at branch tips.

[2][6][7] The scales almost always bear only one seed on its upper surface, in contrast to two in true pines (family Pinaceae).

[12] Araucaria Wollemia Agathis Molecular evidence supports Araucariaceae and Podocarpaceae having diverged from each other during the late Permian.

[13] Today, 41 species are known, in three genera: Agathis, Araucaria and Wollemia, distributed largely in the Southern Hemisphere.

By far the greatest diversity is in New Caledonia (18 species), with others in Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Chile, southern Brazil, and Malesia.

Skillful artisans in the Erzurum Province, Turkey, have used fossilized wood of Araucariaceae for centuries to manufacture jewelry and decorative items.

Despite the fact that this semiprecious gemstone is classified as "stone", wood anatomy reveals it was fossilized pieces of trunks of Araucariacea.

[14] Fossils widely believed to belong to Araucariaceae include the form genera Araucarites (various), Agathoxylon and Araucarioxylon (wood), Brachyphyllum (leaves), Araucariacites and Dilwynites (pollen), and Protodammara (cones).

[15] The oldest records of the Wollemia-Agathis lineage from the Cretaceous, including Emwadea microcarpa from the Albian aged Winton Formation of Australia[16] and Wairarapaia mildenhallii from the Albian-Cenomanian of New Zealand.

[19] Claimed records of Agathis from the Eocene of Canada based on chemical analysis of amber are questionable.