Araucaria araucana Monkey Puzzle Tree Conifer

Araucaria araucana Monkey Puzzle Tree Zones 7-10   I love this conifer. It always intrigues me whether it is a young plant, or a mature specimen. Like ginkgo, Araucaria are often called living fossils. They do look like something from the dinosaur age. Araucaria araucana, commonly known as the Monkey Puzzle tree, is a unique conifer from Chile and Argentina. Rumor is that a monkey will look at this unusual evergreen and will be puzzled on how to climb it. The foliage is hard and sharp, giving a prickly feeling to touch. The branches are are long and snake-like, becoming denser with age. The Monkey Puzzle tree is quite rare in cultivation as it does take 40 years for a tree to develop cones. Male and Female monkey puzzle trees that are this age must be present to develop seeds in the cones that are fertile. The overall shape is narrow and pyramidal.  While the plant is untraditional in it's snake-like form, monkey puzzles are often quite symmetrical. Monkey Puzzle trees are fairly slow