Araucaria araucana

"Monkey Tail Tree" redirects here. For the plant sometimes called "Monkey Tail", see Heliotropium curassavicum.

Araucaria araucana
Araucaria araucana in the Chilean Andes
Conservation status
Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Pinophyta
Class:	Pinopsida
Order:	Pinales
Family:	Araucariaceae
Genus:	Araucaria
Species:	A. araucana
Binomial name
Araucaria araucana (Molina) K. Koch

Araucaria araucana (commonly called the monkey puzzle tree, monkey tail tree, Chilean pine, or pehuén) is an evergreen tree growing to 40 m (130 ft) tall with a 2-m (7-ft) trunk diameter. The tree is native to central and southern Chile and western Argentina. Araucaria araucana is the hardiest species in the conifer genus Araucaria. Because of the great age of this species, it is sometimes described as a living fossil. Its conservation status was changed to Endangered by the IUCN in 2013 due to its declining abundance.

It is the national tree of Chile.

Description

The leaves of the Araucaria araucana

The leaves are thick, tough, and scale-like, triangular, 3–4 cm (1.2–1.6 in) long, 1–3 cm (0.39–1.18 in) broad at the base, and with sharp edges and tips. They persist for 10–15 years or more, so cover most of the tree except for the older branches.

This tree is usually dioecious, with the male and female cones on separate trees, though occasional individuals bear cones of both sexes. The male (pollen) cones are oblong and cucumber-shaped, 4 cm (1.6 in) long at first, expanding to 8–12 cm (3.1–4.7 in) long by 5–6 cm (2.0–2.4 in) broad at pollen release. The tree is wind pollinated. The female (seed) cones, which mature in autumn about 18 months after pollination, are globose, large, 12–20 cm (4.7–7.9 in) in diameter, and hold about 200 seeds. The cones disintegrate at maturity to release the 3–4 cm (1.2–1.6 in) long nut-like seeds.

Habitat

Distribution map of A. araucana in central Chile

Its native habitat is the lower slopes of the Chilean and Argentinian south-central Andes, typically above 1,000 m (3,300 ft). Juvenile trees exhibit a broadly pyramidal or conical habit which naturally develops into the distinctive umbrella form of mature specimens as the tree ages. It prefers well-drained, slightly acidic, volcanic soil, but will tolerate almost any soil type provided it drains well.

Seed dispersal

Araucaria araucana is a masting species, and rodents are important consumers and dispersers of its seeds. The Long-haired Grass Mouse, Abrothrix longipilis, is the most important animal responsible for dispersing the seeds of A. araucana. This rodent buries seeds whole in locations favorable for seed germination, unlike other animals.

Threats

Logging, a major threat, was banned in 1990. Large fires burned thousands of acres of Araucaria forest in 2001-2002., and areas of national parks have also burned, destroying trees over 1300 years old. Overgrazing and invasive trees are also threats. Extensive human harvesting of piñones (Araucaria seeds) can prevent new trees growing.

A Global Trees Campaign project that planted 2000 trees found a 90% 10-year survival rate.

Cultivation and uses

Araucaria araucana is a popular garden tree, planted for its unusual effect of the thick, "reptilian" branches with a very symmetrical appearance. It prefers temperate climates with abundant rainfall, tolerating temperatures down to about -20 °C (-4 °F). It is far and away the hardiest member of its genus, and can grow well in western Europe (north to the Faroe Islands and Smøla in western Norway), the west coast of North America (north to the islands of Haida Gwaii in Canada), and locally on the east coast, as well as Long Island, and in New Zealand and southeastern Australia. It is tolerant of coastal salt spray, but does not tolerate exposure to pollution.

The piñones are similar to pine nuts, but larger; these roasted seeds are 3 cm and 5 cm long, from two different cultivars.

Its piñones, or seeds, are edible, similar to large pine nuts, and are harvested by indigenous peoples in Argentina and Chile. The tree has some potential to be a food crop in other areas in the future, thriving in climates with cool oceanic summers, e.g., western Scotland, where other nut crops do not grow well. A group of six female trees with one male for pollination could yield several thousand seeds per year. Since the cones drop, harvesting is easy. The tree, however, does not yield seeds until it is around 30 to 40 years old, which discourages investment in planting orchards (although yields at maturity can be immense); once established, it can live possibly as long as 1,000 years.

Once valued because of its long, straight trunk, its current rarity and vulnerable status mean its wood is now rarely used; it is also sacred to some members of the Mapuche Native American tribe. Before the tree became protected by law in 1971, lumber mills in Araucanía Region specialized in Chilean pine.A large example of this tree is in the front of the Historic Harper House of Montverde, Florida. This species is listed in the CITES Appendix I as an endangered species.

Discovery and naming

First found in Chile in the 1780s, it was named Pinus araucana by Molina in 1782. In 1789, de Jussieu had erected a new genus called Araucaria based on the species, and in 1797, Pavón published a new description of the species which he called Araucaria imbricata (an invalid name, as it did not use Molina's older species epithet). Finally, in 1873, after several further redescriptions, Koch published the combination Araucaria araucana, validating Molina's name in the genus. The name araucana is derived from the native Araucanians who used the nuts (seeds) of the tree in Chile. A group of Araucanians living in the Andes, the Pehuenches, owe their name to their diet based on harvesting of the A. araucaria seeds. Pehuen means Araucaria and che means people in Mapudungun.

The origin of the popular English language name 'monkey puzzle' derives from its early cultivation in Britain in about 1850, when the species was still very rare in gardens and not widely known. Sir William Molesworth, the proud owner of a young specimen at Pencarrow garden near Bodmin in Cornwall was showing it to a group of friends, one of them – the noted barrister and Benthamist Charles Austin remarked, "It would puzzle a monkey to climb that". As the species had no existing popular name, first 'monkey puzzler', then 'monkey puzzle' stuck.

Relatives

The nearest relative found is Araucaria angustifolia, a South American Araucaria which differs in the width of the leaves. The recently found 'Wollemi pine', Wollemia, though discovered in south-east Australia, is possibly its relative or possibly a relative of the Norfolk Island pine. Their common ancestry dates to a time when Australia, Antarctica, and South America were linked by land.

Gallery

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  Araucaria araucana in the Argentinian Andes

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  Bark of a tree in Conguillío National Park, Chile

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  Female cones

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  Male cones

• AraucariaaraucanaArgentina.jpg

  Juvenile foliage closeup

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  Part of a branch of a cultivated tree

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  A. araucana, Botanical Garden, Wrocław, Poland

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  A. araucana branch

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  Monkey puzzle trees are popularly grown as ornamental trees.

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  Juvenile tree in winter

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  Mixed forest of Araucaria and coigüe in Nahuelbuta National Park, Chile

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  Araucaria araucana in Botanical Garden Jevremovac (Belgrade)

Popular culture

• The ghost in the 20th Century Fox film, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), former sea captain Daniel Gregg (Rex Harrison), has a monkey puzzle tree growing in the front yard of his seaside house. Lucy Muir, (Gene Tierney), after moving into the house as a tenant, has it cut down for firewood, thinking it spoils the view of the sea, and rose bushes would be better. This infuriates the ghost, who states that he had planted the tree with his own hands because he had always wanted to have a monkey puzzle tree. It's a plausible assumption that the screenwriter (Philip Dunne adapting from the Josephine Leslie novel written as R.A. Dick) chose a monkey puzzle tree, known for its gnarly exterior and as a living fossil, to represent characteristics similar to Captain Gregg's.

• In the novel Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer, the sisters Charlotte/Clare and Emily are given lodgings in a house that has a monkey-puzzle tree in the garden. Rambunctious Emily immediately plans and later manages to climb the tree, and the sisters later learn that Arthur, the younger son of their lodging parents who recently died in World War I, as a boy also climbed the tree but grew scared and could not climb down again.

• The pseudonym "Araucaria" was used by a British crossword compiler for The Guardian newspaper, the Reverend John Galbraith Graham MBE (1921–2013), who also provided cryptic crosswords under the pseudonym Cinephile—an anagram of "Chile Pine" the tree's alternative name—in the Financial Times and puzzles for other publications

• The musical artist group known as 'Mother Mother' published a song on their album "A Very Good Bad Thing" in 2014 entitled "Monkey Tree", in reference to the difficulty one would have living in such a tree, and the perseverance required for the undertaking of said task.

External links

• Conifer Specialist Group (2000). Araucaria araucana. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on May 12, 2006. Listed as Vulnerable (VU B1+2c v2.3)

See also

• Monkey bread#Name