Araucaria araucana Seeds | Monkey Puzzle Tree

Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria araucana) with whorled spiny branches and a stout trunk on volcanic ground — Monkey Puzzle Tree (*Araucaria araucana*): Araucariaceae, a living fossil of the Chilean and Argentine Andes, now endangered.

LATIN NAME: Araucaria araucana

COMMON NAME: Monkey Puzzle Tree

Plant Profile

Monkey Puzzle Tree is a conifer of the araucaria family, thirty to fifty metres tall, with whorled horizontal branches armoured in stiff, triangular leaves that stay on the tree for a decade or more. The crown is a dome of these branches, and the trunk below is clean and deeply fissured.

It grows on the volcanic slopes of the Andes in Chile and Argentina, from about thirty-seven to forty degrees south, on thin volcanic soil at altitude. It is the national tree of Chile, and it is dioecious, with male and female cones on separate trees. The male cones are long and cucumber-shaped, the female ones round and heavy with seed.

Science & Biotechnology

Araucariaceae has a fossil record that runs back to the Jurassic, and Araucaria araucana is one of the family’s most distinctive living members. Its leaves are broad and leathery rather than needle-like, an architecture that has changed little in a hundred million years.

The species is classed as endangered, after centuries of logging and a fire regime altered by human settlement. Research has focused on its regeneration, which depends on seed dispersal by birds and rodents and on occasional good seed years, and on the effect of grazing and fire on seedlings. Its bark is thick and fire-resistant, an adaptation to the volcanic landscapes where lightning and ash fall are part of life.

Uses & Benefits

The seeds, piñones, are a traditional food in Chile and Argentina, boiled or roasted and eaten like chestnuts, and they remain important to Mapuche communities. Harvest is regulated, since seed collection competes with the tree’s own regeneration.

As an ornamental it is planted in parks and large gardens across the temperate world, where its prehistoric outline makes it a landmark. It is slow, long-lived and best planted as a specimen with a century in mind. The wood is light and straight-grained, though it is rarely cut now, and the tree matters most today as a specimen. The empty cones stay handsome on the tree long after the seed has gone.

Growing from Seed

Sow fresh seed, since it loses viability quickly. Cover it with a gritty mix, keep it at twenty to twenty-five degrees and moist but not wet, and expect germination in six to twelve weeks. The seedling pushes a stout shoot before it makes roots, so handle it gently.

Grow it in a deep pot for three or four years, in bright light with protection from hard frost, then plant out into deep, well-drained, slightly acid soil. It is wind-firm once established, but it resents root disturbance and competition from grass, so keep a clear ring around the trunk. Do not feed it richly, since soft growth is easily damaged by frost and wind.

Our Take

A tree you plant for your grandchildren, with edible seed and a shape no other conifer matches. Fresh seed, deep soil and patience are the whole of it. It is also worth growing for the seed alone.

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