Monkey Puzzle

Arucaria Arucana

The Monkey Puzzle, also commonly called Chile Pine, is native to the Andes in Chile and Argentina. The tree was botanically catagorised by Europeans in the late 18th century and was introduced into the UK in the 19th century where some of the earliest planted trees still grow in West Country gardens.  The botanical name derives from the Araucano peoples of Chile and in its native habitat the tree can grow to more than 30m tall where there is some evidence that it can live for up to 1,000 years.  Monkey Puzzle trees have distinctive dark evergreen spiky foliage, with wide spaced horizontal branches forming into an overall umbrella shape at maturity.  These characteristics and a trunk with grey wrinkled bark make the Monkey Puzzle one of the easiest trees to identify at all times of year.

Being a species of conifer, the Monkey Puzzle produces seeds formed in cones; normally produced as either all male or all female cones on separate trees.  In the UK seeds from the female cones are distributed by birds or squirrels but in their native habitat are regularly harvested as they are edible and provide a nutritious source of protein.

Situation
Widely planted throughout the UK since its introduction in Victorian times, the Monkey Puzzle is found planted as a feature tree in a wide variety of locations from modest urban gardens to large parkland settings.  There is a fine example and readily visible from the road, growing in the garden of a house in Lyndhurst High Street, opposite the Forest Park Hotel.

Season/Life cycle

Uses
Grown in the UK for its distinctive form and unusual foliage, the Monkey Puzzle has no significant commercial, medicinal or food value in the UK. Although in parts of its native habitat the seeds are a valuable source of food.