Araucaria araucana

Monkey Puzzle Tree

                                          ID# 78

 
 

Additional Information: Purchase at The Plant Farm, New Bern, NC ( 2006).

Forest farm .com (2008)

 

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.

    Long, spidery branches covered with densely-overlapping sharply-pointed leaves give this med-lg tree a unique look. These are grown from seed, so their gender is not known yet.

HEIGHT X SPREAD: 12 ft x 5 ft PLANT TYPE: Evergreen conifer tree GROWTH RATE: slow TEXTURE: coarse LIGHT: full sun WATER: moist well drain SOIL: high Organic
As observed in Coastal NC. BLOOMS: N/A FRUIT AND SEED: Plant grows one gender per plant i.e. male or female. KEY FEATURES: leaves are life razor blades. Because of its branch/leaf structure, tree will sacrifice a entire branch if in stress. Blades/leaves do not drop individaully. In hot/ humid climate, life expectancy is about 2 yrs. and lant starts to stress and eventually dies.
A year cycle in the life of ...... at Mooring Hitch I have planted 2 specimens of this tree. The first one survive about 2 yrs. We flood often so when the second specimen looked stressed i.e. branches turning brown and trunk dripping sap (?) I decided to move it to Stonehenge Fall 2013 -This plant no longer at MH Gardens. ../Stonehenge_Gardens/Welcome.htmlshapeimage_4_link_0

June 2009

          Mooring Hitch Gardens       
 

June 2014

Dead Monkey Puzzle tree