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