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The Monkey Puzzle

Quick Notes about the Monkey Puzzle Take me here now

The Facts

Tree Type: An evergreen conifer tree which starts out in a cone-shape but then grows to have a long straight trunk with an umbrella-shaped canopy at the top. The weight of the tree can cause the bark at the base to form wrinkles as it is compressed. The trunk is hard but the branches are more flexible, giving rise to its English name as it would “puzzle a monkey” to climb it.

Location: This tree is found in Chile and Argentina in dry regions above 1000m above sea level. It can live in most environments as long as the soil is well drained.

Ecology: The mature female tree produces seeds similar to pine nuts which fall to the floor, where they are dispersed by the animals which eat them. Many trees have been lost to logging and forest fires, as well as over harvesting of the nuts.

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The Legends

The tree is sometimes called a ‘living fossil’ as it is very similar to trees which existed millions of years ago.

This example is one of the very first to be planted in the United Kingdom, and is at least 160 years old. The tree was popularly known first as ‘monkey puzzler’ but then as ‘monkey puzzle’.

Although a recent arrival, it has developed some folklore. In some parts of England it is believed the devil lives in monkey puzzle trees, and that speaking near one will bring bad luck (or make you grow a monkey tail).

Make sure your volume is on: "Very alien looking..."

Show transcript

Monkey puzzle tree, native to Chile and parts of Argentina - actually grows in desert regions, literally where there's no monkeys! So I don't know where it got its name from!

It got its name, I believe, as a monkey puzzle, because it would "puzzle a monkey" to be able to climb it. [But there's no monkeys there!]

It's covered in small, very sharp little spikes. The leaves are very tough. It's a very unusual shape. Very alien looking. And the older it gets, the buttress forms... [Kind of the wrinkles in an elephant's bottom] ends up looking like an elephant's foot. So the weight of the tree maybe is...? [Yes, it's the compression weights coming down, that just slowly is making these ripples].

It's very sought after wood [Very good timber tree ] and they logged it terribly until only about 10 years ago. And now it's more protected. [It's endangered now, isn't it?] The wood is very good for certain things... I'm not sure what. It's very hard.

It's very hard. It's got great tensile strength, I believe, for beams. Not grown in this country … you know, if the foresters thought about it, maybe growing this in our forests instead of spruce might be a good idea.

The actual pine seeds you can roast them and they're like pine nuts, but bigger -like three times the size! And they are on about the locals. ...once the tree gets to a certain age, they'll be able to cultivate these nuts and make a crop and a profit out of the nuts. But the tree needs to be about 60 to 80 years old before you can start getting these nuts [Interesting].

This is probably beyond its...not beyond its life, but certainly mature. [Let's see... early Staunton] Early Staunton, so coming up to 200 years old. You know, one of the first in this country for sure.

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