Focus on Araucariaceae by William H. Rein, Barnes Arboretum Living Collections Associate & Horticulture Programs Coordinator and Jacob Thomas, Deputy Director for Living Collections

any in the area remember is a popular garden tree, Wollemia nobilis Mfondly the Monkey Puzzle Tree at planted for the unusual The recently discovered the Barnes Foundation in Merion, PA. effect of its thick, Wollemi pine, Wollemia But Mrs. Barnes’ 55-year experiment “reptilian” branches with nobilis, though found in with the tree came to an end with its a symmetrical pattern. southeast Australia, is demise last year. Trials are beginning Its seeds, similar to thought to be a relative with new trees, as well as with their large pine nuts, are rich of the A. araucana. Their cousins, the Wollemi pines. in starch and hence edible common ancestry dates both raw and cooked; to a time when Australia, Araucaria araucana they are a dietary staple Antarctica, and South In pre-1850 Britain, it was known as in Chile. The seed is soft America were linked by "Joseph Banks pine" or "Chile pine," like a cashew nut and land. though it is not a true pine. The origin resembles pine nuts in Thought extinct until of the name monkey puzzle tree derives flavor (yum!). The tree discovered in Australia in

from its early cultivation in Britain, Rein photo ©William has some potential as a , the fossil records when the species was still very rare and 1994 food crop in other areas Wollemia nobilis at the indicate that it was not widely known. The proud owner in the future, thriving in Barnes Foundation widespread in Australia of a young specimen at Pencarrow’s climates with cool oceanic summers 40 million years ago. The plant is now garden in Cornwall was showing it to (e.g., western Scotland) where other protected in Australia. friends, and one made the remark that nut crops do not grow well. This W. nobilis has a unique branching "it would puzzle a monkey to climb species is listed as endangered. pattern. All side branches will either that." As the species had no existing Mrs. Barnes obtained the small terminate in a male or female cone or popular name, first “monkey-puzzler” A. araucana in 1960. Believing it to stop growing. When the cone matures, and then “monkey puzzle tree” stuck. be a slow-growing species, she placed the branch falls off—so there is no In France, it’s known as désespoir des it in the island beds devoted to dwarf further branching on side branches. singes (monkeys’ despair). conifers. Dr John Fogg wrote that in its The Barnes Foundation has young Araucaria araucana is the national eleventh year, the plant was 6' tall and samples of both A. araucana and tree of Chile. Its native habitat is had grown 6–8" annually during the W. nobilis at the Merion Campus. Visit the lower slopes of the Chilean and previous three years. Now, the remains www.barnesfoundation.org for more Argentinian south-central Andes, of the tree are scheduled to be removed information about visits, classes, and typically above 3,300'. A. araucana from its home of over half a century. other plant collections. photo ©William Rein photo ©William photo ©William Rein photo ©William photo from Barnes Arboretum newsletter photo from Barnes Araucaria araucana in 1971 Araucaria araucana in 2009 Araucaria araucana in 2015 with (11 years after planting) (49 years after planting) dead branches being heavily pruned 4 Hardy Plant Society/Mid-Atlantic Group January 2017