scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Araucariaceae
Genus: Araucaria
Species: A. Araucana
binomial
Araucaria Araucana
(Molina) K. Koch
Araucaria Araucana is the national tree of Chile.
The leaves are thick, tough, triangular and scale-like, measuring 3–4 cm long, 1–3 cm broad at the base, and with sharp edges towards their tips. Astoundingly, these small leaves persist for 10–15 years or more and usually cover most of the tree except for the older branches. The leaf character is an adaptation to lower temperatures, altitude and desiccation.
It is usually dioecious, with the male and female cones on separate trees, however occasional individuals exquisitely bear cones of both genders from various branches elevated by the same trunk and roots. The male (pollen) cones are oblong and aubergine- or eggplant-shaped, 4 cm long at first, expanding to 8–12 cm long by 5–6 cm broad at pollen release. The tree is wind pollinated and most commonly grows in areas free from annoyingly airborne insects and all that they entail! The female (seed) cones, which mature in autumn, March to May in the southern hemisphere, about 18 months after pollination, are globose or globe-like in formation, large for conifers, measuring 12–20 cm in diameter, and hold about 200 seeds. The cones disintegrate on maturing thus releasing the 3–4 cm long nut-like seeds, which are then dispersed by mostly jays, squirrels and other rodent-like four-legged creatures.
Despite appearing like an extraordinarily long parasol it is rare to find people shading under their umbrella like layered branches. However, a certain range of mammals can be found in the remnant natural habitats that these trees dominate in various South American nations which could include Uruguay and Paraguay in addition to Argentina, Brasil and Chile. It has been argued that further north at varying altitudes in the Andes and its foothills in Peru, Bolivia and even Ecuador and Colombia, certain areas could be developed to create more widespread safer havens, thus lessening the vulnerability of this ‘threatened’ species. It has received a conservation status ranking and despite European distribution there are few signs, beyond its stronghold, of non-governmental organisations or governments planning to introduce the species on any large-scale outside of South America. Additionally, we might attempt to replicate its natural habitat as a further measure beyond its wide diaspora, being used mostly decoratively in landscape gardening and city park planning. However, its ornamental usage may be beneficial for endless reasons.
Its native habitat is on the lower slopes of the Chilean and Argentine south central Andes, typically above 1,000 metres at those latitudes, in regions with heavy snowfall in winter. Juvenile trees exhibit a broadly pyramidal or conical predominance, which naturally develops into the distinctive umbrella form of mature specimens as the tree ages and heightens. It is planted, preferably in well drained, slightly acidic, volcanic soil but will tolerate many soil types provided they drain sufficiently well.
This succinctly suggests that gullying, landslips and soil surface slides may be prevented with this innocuous rather attractive looking tree. In areas of heavy and concentrated precipitation soil binding plants are usually the first form of defence against the combined effects of rain and loose soils. More studies on the efficiency of Araucarias as tools to avoid resident danger in the proximity to risky housing locations may prove this to be a useful in advance planted tree, thus protecting possible areas for construction. Obviously, the angle of the slopes, the soil cohesion proficiency and the compatibilities of these various factors may lead to greater planning and investment for urban growth management.
Araucaria Araucana is also a popular garden tree, planted for its unusual effect of the thick, 'reptilian' bark on its branches and trunk and with an unusually symmetrical appearance. In addition to being compared to dinosaur-sized reptiles, the bark resembles some political maps with a seemingly haphazard linear scaly surface. However, it is only with touch you can truly feel how exquisite a plant species it really is!
It grows best in temperate climates with abundant precipitation, tolerating temperatures as low as around −20 °C. It is far and away the hardiest member of its genus, and can grow well in western and possibly north central Europe and Asia (northwest fringes including the Faroe Islands and Smøla in western Norway), the west coast of North America (north to the Queen Charlotte Islands in Canada) and in pocketed locations on the northeast coast as well. It has been growing in New Zealand and southeastern Australia and its range of growth areas could be expanded further in the northern Pacific in albino tiger territories of Russia, China and Japan. It is tolerant of coastal salt spray, but studies have so far suggested some sensitivity towards exposure to pollution, although it may be found in many more cities for the future.
Its seeds are edible, similar to large pine nuts, and are extensively harvested in Chile and in more traditional communities of southern Brasil. The tree has some potential to be a food crop in more 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 30–40 years old, which up until now has been discouraging investment in planting orchards (although yields at maturity can be immense). Once established, it can live possibly as long as 1,000 years (Gymnosperm Database). 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 Amerindian culture.
Before the tree became protected by law in 1971, there were lumber-mills in the Araucanía Region that, if you haven’t just guessed, specialises in Araucarias (seeking confirmation?). This species is listed in the CITES, Appendix I, as an endangered species.
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 Araucaria seeds. Pehuen signifies Araucaria and che people in Mapudungun, . . .
In Britain before 1850, it had been known as "Joseph Bank's Pine" or "Chile Pine", though it is not a true pine. The origin of the popular English name Monkey Puzzle Tree derives from its early cultivation in Britain in about 1850, when the species was still very rare in gardens and not widely known. The proud owner of a young specimen at Pencarrow garden near Bodmin in Cornwall was showing it to a group of friends. We can picture the scene, a bit like an art gallery as bystanders to an artform and one remarked, "It would puzzle a monkey to climb that!". As the species had no existing, popular, marketable name, first 'Monkey-puzzler' slid, then 'Monkey Puzzle' stuck.
In France it is known as désespoir des singes or 'monkeys' despair' and thus ‘desperate monkeys’. The species’ Mapuche name, Pehuén is now becoming more widely used as an upcoming disentangled new name in English. So, perhaps we are now beginning a diaspora for the Pehuenches’ Pehuén.
