Chinese Monkey Year Theme Gardening With Monkey Puzzle Tree Gardens

Summary: Americanized Chinese monkey year theme gardening respects cultural diversity and environmental sustainability with American puzzle tree gardens.

Andean population (población andina) of monkey puzzle trees (Araucaria araucana), also known as pehuén or pino chileno; Parque Nacional Conguillío, Región de La Araucanía, south central Chile: lautaroj, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

January acts as the last month to advance Americanized Chinese monkey year theme gardening plans, with American monkey puzzle tree gardens at the forefront, for Feb. 8, 2016, to Jan. 27, 2017.

Monkey puzzle trees bear the scientific name Araucaria araucana, from the woody plant's seeds and wood benefiting the Araucanian culture in ancient South America's central Chile. The common names monkey puzzle tree and monkey tail tree come from Charles Austin's (1799-Dec. 21, 1874) comment, "It would puzzle a monkey to climb that." The common names Chilean pine and pehuén defer to the evergreen's native distribution throughout central and southern Chile and its original designation within the pine genus.

Chile's national tree, endangered since 2013, endures native or naturalization-friendly, rainfall-prone, temperate climates with cool summers and temperatures above 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 15.55 degrees Celsius).

Monkey puzzle trees favor slightly acidic, well-drained soils like their native Argentinian and Chilean south-central Andes Mountains' volcanic slopes 3,300-plus feet (1,005.84-plus meters) above sea level.

Coastal North American and inland microclimates generate the lightly shaded, moisture-laden, sunny microclimates that central and southern Chile and western Argentina give native monkey puzzle trees. The pollution-intolerant, salt-tolerant conifers, described by Juan Ignacio Molina (June 24, 1809-May 25, 1879) in 1782, have 1,000-plus-year life expectancies, straight trunks and symmetrical, thick branches. Broadly conical, pyramidal habits identify juveniles whereas maturity invokes 100- to 130-foot (30.48- to 39.62-meter) heights, 3- to 5-foot (0.91- to 1.52-meter) diameters and umbrella-like silhouettes.

Cultivated North American and wild South American monkey puzzle tree gardens jumble monkey tail-like woody canopies and trunks into American Chinese monkey year theme gardening plans.

Monkey puzzle trees, known to Karl Heinrich Emil Koch (June 6, 1809-May 25, 1879) by 1873, keep distinctive brown inner bark, white resin and wide needles.

Dark green, sharp-edged, sharp-tipped, tough 1.2- to 1.6-inch- (3.05- to 4.06-centimeter-) long needles look scale-like and triangular with 0.39- to 1.18-inch- (0.99- to 2.99-centimeter-) broad bases. Needles maintain air, light, moisture and temperature control for all but a tree's oldest branches and average lifespans of 24 years before merging with ground litter. Six trees with both cones or six with female cones and one with male nurture thousands of seeds yearly from age 30 to 40 years onward.

Wind pollination obtains 3.1- to 4.7-inch- (7.87- to 11.94-centimeter-) long by 2.0- to 2.4-inch- (5.08- to 6.09-centimeter-) broad pollen-filled cones from 1.6-inch- (4.06-centimeter-) long male cones.

American monkey puzzle tree gardens produce 200 seeds per globe-like female cones 4.7 to 7.9 inches (11.94 to 20.06 centimeters) in diameter 18 months after pollination.

Pine nut-like 1.2- to 1.6-inch- (3.05- to 4.06-centimeter-) long seeds quit their ground-strewn female seed cones in autumn as Americanized Chinese monkey year theme gardening edibles. Long-haired grass mice (Abrothrix longipilis) remove uneaten seeds from tree base litter to burial grounds whose depth results in sustainable seed germination in Argentina and Chile. New growth and old stands suffer decimation by cattle-grazing, invasive-planting, seed-collecting agroindustrialists and destruction during wildfires despite governmental protection since 1971 and logging bans since 1990.

Americanized Chinese monkey year theme gardening plans tackle continental, cultural and environmental diversity by treasuring native South American and naturalized North American monkey puzzle tree gardens.

Araucaria araucana's male cones in Parque Nacional Conguillío, Región de La Araucanía, south central Chile; Feb. 2, 2012: Fugi-bis, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Andean population (población andina) of monkey puzzle trees (Araucaria araucana), also known as pehuén or pino chileno; Parque Nacional Conguillío, Región de La Araucanía, south central Chile; Dec. 31, 2010: lautaroj, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Araucaria_araucana_-_Parque_Nacional_Conguill%C3%ADo_por_lautaroj_-_001.jpg

Araucaria araucana's male cones in Parque Nacional Conguillío, Región de La Araucanía, south central Chile; Feb. 2, 2012: Fugi-bis, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pi%C3%B1as_masculinas_araucaria.JPG

For further information:

"Araucaria araucana." Missouri Botanical Garden > Gardens & Gardening > Your Garden > Plant Finder.
Available @ http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=276630&isprofile=0&

"Araucaria araucana (Molina) K. Koch." Plants of the World Online > Kew Science.
Available @ http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:261681-1

"Araucaria araucana (Molina) K. Koch." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/2300010

Chilebosque. 2016. Ficha de descripción de Araucaria araucana.
Available @ http://www.chilebosque.cl/flora/araucaria_araucana.html

Koch, Karl. 1873. "1. A. araucana." Dendrologie, zweite theil, zweite abtheilung: 206-207.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/18206577

Molina, Giovanni Ignazio. 1782. Saggio Sulla Storia Naturale del Chili: 182-184. Bologna, Italia: Stamperia di S. Tommaso d'Aquino.
Available @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41027977

"Monkey Puzzle Araucaria araucana." Global Trees Campaign > Threatened Trees.
Available @ http://globaltrees.org/threatened-trees/trees/monkey-puzzle/

"Monkey Puzzle (Araucaria araucana)." Arkive > Species > Plants and Algae.
Available @ http://www.arkive.org/monkey-puzzle/araucaria-araucana/

Premoli, A.; P. Quiroga; and M. Gardner. 2013. "Araucaria araucana (Monkey Puzzle)." The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T31355A2805113. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T31355A2805113.en.
Available @ http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/31355/0