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Araucaria araucana, commonly called the monkey puzzle tree, monkey tail tree, pewen, pehuen pine or piñonero, is an evergreen tree belonging to the family Araucariaceae and growing to a trunk diameter of Template:Cvt and a height of Template:Cvt. It is native to central and southern Chile and western Argentina.<ref>Native areas Template:Webarchive, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. Retrieved: 2012-09-20.</ref> It is the hardiest species in the conifer genus Araucaria. Because of the prevalence of similar species in ancient prehistory, it is sometimes called an animate fossil.Template:Citation needed It is also the official tree of Chile and of the neighboring Argentine province of Neuquén. The IUCN changed its conservation status to Endangered in 2013 as logging, forest fires, and grazing caused its population to dwindle.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" />
DescriptionEdit
The leaves are thick, tough, and scale-like, triangular, Template:Convert long, Template:Convert broad at the base, and with sharp edges and tips. According to the scientist Christopher Lusk, the leaves have an average lifespan of 24 years<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and so cover most of the tree except for the older branches.
It is usually dioecious, with the male and female cones on separate trees, though occasional individuals bear cones of both sexes. The male (pollen) cones are oblong and cucumber-shaped, Template:Convert long at first, expanding to Template:Convert long by Template:Convert broad at pollen release. It is wind pollinated. The female (seed) cones, which mature in autumn about 18 months after pollination, are globose, large, Template:Convert in diameter, and hold about 200 seeds. The cones disintegrate at maturity to release the Template:Convert long nut-like seeds.
The thick bark of Araucaria araucana (up to six inches (15 cm) in thickness) may be an adaptation to wildfire.<ref name=SanmayDonoso95>Template:Cite book</ref>
HabitatEdit
The tree's native habitat is the lower slopes of the Chilean and Argentine south-central Andes, approximately between Template:Convert and 1,700 m (5,600 ft).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In the Chilean Coast Range A. araucana can be found as far south as Villa Las Araucarias (latitude 38°30' S) at an altitude of 640 m asl.<ref name="assets">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Juvenile trees exhibit a broadly pyramidal or conical habit which naturally develops into the distinctive umbrella form of mature specimens as the tree ages.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It prefers well-drained, slightly acidic, volcanic soil, but will tolerate almost any soil type provided it drains well. Seedlings are often not competitive enough to survive unless grown in a canopy gap or exposed isolated area. It is almost never found together with Chusquea culeou, Nothofagus dombeyi, and Nothofagus pumilio, because they typically outcompete A. araucana.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Seed dispersalEdit
Araucaria araucana is a masting species, and rodents are important consumers and dispersers of its seeds. The long-haired grass mouse, Abrothrix longipilis, is the most important animal responsible for dispersing the seeds of A.Template:Nbsparaucana. This rodent buries seeds whole in locations favorable for seed germination, unlike other animals.<ref>Shepherd, J.D. & R.S. Ditgen, 2013. Rodent handling of Araucaria araucana seeds. Austral Ecology, 38: 23–32.</ref>
Another important seed dispersal agent is the austral parakeet.<ref name=":0" /> Adult trees are highly resistant to large ecological disturbances caused by volcanic activity, after events like these the parakeets play their role by dispersing the seeds far from affected territory.<ref name=":0" />
ThreatsEdit
Logging, long a major threat, was finally banned in 1990.<ref name=global>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Large fires burned thousands of acres of Araucaria forest in 2001–2002,<ref name=global /> and areas of national parks have also burned, destroying trees over 1300 years old.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" /> Overgrazing and invasive trees are also threats.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" /><ref name=global /> Extensive human harvesting of piñones (Araucaria seeds) can prevent new trees from growing.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" /> A Global Trees Campaign project that planted 2000 trees found a 90Template:Nbsppercent 10-year survival rate.<ref name=global />
Another major threat to the survival of A. araucana, is the presence of non-native seed eating species, in particular mammals, which have been shown to severely restrict the reproduction of the tree in comparison to native seed eaters.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> However it is still unclear as to how large a role these invasive species play in threatening this species of tree. One study in particular found that native species played a larger role in preventing reproduction through seed destruction.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> However this may be due to the relatively recent introduction of the selected species, causing their population to be smaller than other invasive species.
A study conducted found that cattle ranching by small landowners and larger timber companies within the range of A. araucana severely affects regeneration of seedlings.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
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Cultivation and usesEdit
Araucaria araucana is a popular garden tree, planted for the unusual effect of its thick, "reptilian" branches with very symmetrical appearance. It prefers temperate climates with abundant rainfall, tolerating temperatures down to about Template:Convert. It is far and away the hardiest member of its genus, and can grow well in western and central Europe (north to the Faroe Islands and Smøla<ref name="Palms in Scandinavia">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in western Norway), the west coast of North America (north to Baranof Island in Alaska), and locally on the east coast, as far north as Long Island, and in New Zealand, southeastern Australia and south east Ireland. It is tolerant of coastal salt spray, but does not tolerate exposure to pollution.Template:Citation needed
Its seeds (Template:Langx, Template:Langx) are edible,<ref name=global /> similar to large pine nuts, and are harvested by indigenous peoples in Argentina and Chile.<ref>Gallo, L., F. Izquierdo, L.J. Sanguinetti, A. Pinna, G. Siffredi, J. Ayesa, C. Lopez, A. Pelliza, N. Strizler, M. Gonzales Peñalba, L. Maresca and L. Chauchard. 2004. Araucaria araucana forest genetic resources in Argentina. Pages 105–132 in Barbara Vinceti, Weber Amaral and Brien Meilleur (eds). Challenges in managing forest genetic resources for livelihoods: examples from Argentina and Brazil. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute. 271 pp.</ref> The tree has some potential to be a food crop in other areas in the future, thriving in climates with cool oceanic summers, e.g., western Scotland, where other nut crops do not grow well.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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 to 40 years old, which discourages investment in planting orchards (although yields at maturity can be immense); once established, individuals can achieve ages beyond 1,000 years.<ref name="Luning-et-al-2019">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Betti-et-al-2017">Template:Cite journal</ref> Pest losses to rodents and feral Sus scrofa limits the yields for human consumption and forage fattening of livestock by A. araucana mast.<ref name="Sanguinetti-Kitzberger-2010" /> A. araucana has a high degree of inter-year variability in mast volume, and this variation is synchronous within a given area.<ref name="Sanguinetti-Kitzberger-2008" /> This evolved to take advantage of predator satiety.<ref name="Sanguinetti-Kitzberger-2008" />
Once 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 indigenous Mapuche.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Timber from these trees, was used for railway sleepers in order to access many industrial areas around the port of Chile. Before the tree became protected by law in 1971, lumber mills in Araucanía Region specialized in Chilean pine.
The species is protected under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meaning international trade (including in parts and derivatives) is regulated by the CITES permitting system and commercial trade in wild sourced specimens is prohibited.<ref name="CITES"/>
Many young specimens and seeds were brought or sent back to the UK by Cornish miners in the nineteenth century, during the Cornish diaspora, and as a result Cornwall is reckoned to have a high genetic diversity of the species. Christopher Nigel Page, a botanist working at Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter planted specimens in disused china clay pits in the St Austell area as part of his research into regreening former extractive minerals sites, which he presented in 2017 in the UK Parliament, with Professor Hylke Glass, also of CSM, as co-author.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
NamingEdit
First identified by Europeans in Chile in the 1780s,<ref>The tree was first mentioned in 1780 by the Spaniard Francisco Dendariarena. See:
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite journal, see p. 341.
- Template:Cite book</ref><ref>However, there are claims that the monkey puzzle tree was introduced to Europe after an expedition by the Dutch in 1642 from Brazil to Valdivia, Chile. See:
- Devon Gardens Trust
- Template:Cite book, see p. 69.</ref> it was named Pinus araucana by Molina in 1782.<ref>Template:Cite book Available at: Real Jardín Botánico (Royal Botanical Garden), CSIC, Madrid, Spain. Template:Webarchive</ref> In 1789, de Jussieu erected a new genus called Araucaria based on the species,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and in 1797, Pavón published a new description of the species which he called Araucaria imbricata (an illegitimate name, as it did not use Molina's older species epithet).<ref>Template:Cite journal ; see p. 199.</ref> Finally, in 1873, after several further redescriptions, Koch published the combination Araucaria araucana,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> validating Molina's species name. 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 the harvesting of the A. araucaria seeds; hence from pewen or its Hispanicized spelling pehuen which means Araucaria and che means people in Mapudungun. They believe the pewen was given by a deity or gwenachen to nourish their offspring; many pewen gathering festivals (ngillatun) are celebrated in both Chile and Argentina in gratitude to the tree's sustenance.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The origin of the popular English language name "monkey puzzle" lies in its early cultivation in Britain in about 1850, when the species was still very rare in gardens and not widely known. Sir William Molesworth, the owner of a young specimen at Pencarrow garden near Bodmin in Cornwall, was showing it to a group of friends, when one of them – the noted barrister and Benthamist Charles Austin – remarked, "It would puzzle a monkey to climb that".<ref name="Financial Times">Template:Cite news</ref> As the species had no existing popular name, first "monkey puzzler", then "monkey puzzle" stuck. Pencarrow in the current century has an avenue of mature Monkey Puzzles.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
RelativesEdit
The nearest extant relative is Araucaria angustifolia, a South American Araucaria from Brazil which differs in the width of the leaves. Members of other sections of the genus Araucaria occur in Pacific Islands and in Australia, and include Araucaria cunninghamii, hoop pine, Araucaria heterophylla, the Norfolk Island pine and Araucaria bidwillii, bunya pine.Template:Citation needed
The recently found 'Wollemi pine', Wollemia, discovered in southeast Australia, is classed in the plant family Araucariaceae. Their common ancestry dates to a time when Australia, Antarctica, and South America were linked by land – all three continents were once part of the supercontinent known as Gondwana.Template:Citation needed
GalleryEdit
- Araucaria araucana playa.jpg
Araucaria araucana in the Argentine Andes
- Conguillio National Park.jpg
Bark of a tree in Conguillío National Park, Chile
- Araucaria araucana cones.jpg
Female cones
- Araucaria araucana0.jpg
Male cones
- Araucaria araucana2.jpg
Part of a branch of a cultivated tree
- Araucaria araucana 03.jpg
A. araucana, Botanical Garden, Wrocław, Poland
- Araucaria araucana-branch.JPG
A. araucana branch
- Araucaria araucana1.jpg
Monkey puzzle trees are popularly grown as ornamental trees.
- Monkey Puzzle Tree in snow at Kew.jpg
Juvenile tree in winter
- P.N.Nahuelbuta2.jpg
Mixed forest of Araucaria and coigüe in Nahuelbuta National Park, Chile
- Araucaria araucana (8).JPG
Araucaria araucana in Botanical Garden Jevremovac (Belgrade)
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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