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Araucariaceae
Monkey Puzzle Flower
Araucaria araucana
Ancient endurance and living fossils.
- Family
- Araucariaceae
- Genus
- Araucaria
- Native to
- Chile, Argentina
- Bloom season
- Summer
- Type
- evergreen conifer
- Height
- 1500–4000 cm
- Sunlight
- full sun
- Soil
- well-drained, volcanic; tolerates poor soil
- Water
- moderate; rainfall-dependent
- Hardiness
- 7–10
- Lifespan
- perennial tree; 500–1,000+ years
Did you know
- The tree dates back to the Jurassic period — dinosaurs likely walked among monkey puzzle forests 200 million years ago.
- The name arose when a Victorian guest, seeing the spiny branches, remarked 'it would puzzle a monkey to climb that'.
- Male and female cones grow on separate trees; the female cones take 2–3 years to mature and can weigh 1.5 kg.
- The large, nutritious seeds (piñones) are a traditional food of the Mapuche people of Chile and Argentina.
- It is Chile's national tree and is legally protected — wild harvesting of trees has been banned since 1990.
Color meanings
Green
primordial persistence
Brown
earth's deep memory