Monkey Puzzles

How would you puzzle a monkey? According to 19th century Brits you would simply ask one to climb an Araucaria araucana – the monkey puzzle tree! Native to Chile and naturally growing on the volcanic hills of the Andes mountains (where, coincidentally there are no native monkeys), monkey puzzle trees are a somewhat popular ornamental tree. Lucky, because they are endangered in the wild. Considering they’ve endured all life has thrown at them since the time of the dinosaurs, we have a lot to answer for… Their general decline can be attributed to logging (they have super straight trunks that made excellent quality timber) and forest fires.  

They have thick, scaley, kind of spikey leaves (hello dinosaur protection), and a generally prehistoric vibe. In the wild they can grow up to 50m tall, but in cultivation they generally don’t make it that far. They are also very, very slow growing, the fully grown tree can be next generation’s problem, and then several generations down the line will still be enjoying it as they can live for 1000 years!

Like many other species in the Araucaria genus (like Norfolk island pines – A. heterophylla and Hoop pines – A. cunninghamii), monkey puzzle trees are dioecious, which means they have separate male and female trees. The seeds, which form on the female trees are edible and were an important starch source for the indigenous people. Apparently they taste similar to pine nuts, but if you wanted to add a tree to your food forest don’t forget you’ll need two (male and female) and they’ll also have to be 30-40 years old to get to seed bearing age! The related, bunya nut tree (A. bidwillii) might be a better bet, as they are a) monoecious (one tree required as they have female and male flowers on the same tree) and b) they only have to be 15-20 years old….