[5] The female cones, usually high on the top of the tree, are globose, and vary in size among species from 7 to 25 centimetres (3 to 10 in) in diameter.

The genus is named after the Spanish exonym Araucano ("from Arauco") applied to the Mapuche of south-central Chile and south-west Argentina, whose territory incorporates natural stands of a species in this genus identified as A. araucana; the Mapuche people call it pewen, and consider it sacred.

[3] Some Mapuche living in the Andes name themselves Pehuenche ("people of the pewen") as they traditionally harvested the seeds extensively for food.

A. heterophylla (Salisbury) Franco A. muelleri (Carrière) Brongniart & Gris A. bernieri Buchholz A. subulata Vieillard A. biramulata Buchholz A. schmidii de Laubenfels A. montana Brongniart & Gris A. scopulorum de Laubenfels A. laubenfelsii Corbasson A. humboldtensis Buchholz A. rulei von Mueller A. luxurians (Brongniart & Gris) de Laubenfels A. nemorosa de Laubenfels A. columnaris (Forster) Hooker Genetic studies indicate that the extant members of the genus can be subdivided into two large clades – the first consisting of the sections Araucaria, Bunya, and Intermedia; and the second of the strongly monophyletic section Eutacta.

Members of Araucaria are found in Argentina, Brazil, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, Australia, New Guinea, Chile and Papua (Indonesia).

Some evidence suggests that the long necks of sauropod dinosaurs may have evolved specifically to browse the foliage of tall trees, including those of Araucaria.

An analysis of modern Araucaria leaves found that they have a high energy content but are slow fermenting, making their ancestors a likely attractive target.