The Monkey Puzzle tree pictured is growing in Calderwood, East Kilbride. 

When in the company of others, I always point it out as it is such an impressive tree towering high with its thick prickly branches and wrinkly bark. It is a tree that can live a long time. This characteristic, combined with its distinctive look, has led many to describe it as a living fossil. 

I knew the tree had initially been brought over to this country from South America by the Scottish Plant Hunter Archibald Menzies. At the time, it was one of several introduced trees, highly prized for their ornamental value.

More recently, I read that it was becoming endangered in its native homeland due to pressures from logging, forest fires, and overgrazing of seedling trees, a situation that is sadly facing many of the world’s trees. 

Interestingly, Monkey Puzzles grow well in Scotland because the climate is similar to the areas in South America where it grows. 

With this being the case, collaboration has occurred between South America and Scotland to try and help reverse the decline in Monkey Puzzle Trees back in its homeland. 

The trees growing in Scotland are helping to diversify the genetic stock back in South America.

This return of trees to their native land to assist with conservation efforts is interesting, so it is a story I usually share with groups when we pass by the tree. 

On one of these walks, there was a lady from Chile present who on our first walk did not initially recognize the name Monkey Puzzle or the tree.

However, after discussing it further on a subsequent walk, we realized its significance.

The tree is better known in her home country as a Chilean Pine, Araucaria araucana, and is the national tree of Chile. It is native to central and southern Chile and western Argentina. 

When it first arrived in the UK, the scale-like leaves with their razor-sharp edges would be, it was said, a puzzle even for monkeys to climb. So that was how it became known in this country as the Monkey Puzzle tree. 

It continues to be popular, with many people choosing it for its ornamental value. 

I first read the story about Scottish efforts to assist in the conservation of the Chilean Pine in the book, A Handbook of Scotland’s Trees, edited by Fi Martynoga for the organisation, Reforesting Scotland.

For further information, visit the link Endangered monkey puzzles planted in Perthshire | Perth and Kinross Countryside Trust (pkct.org)