Re: Monkey Puzzle Tree info.
karens@clemson.edu
Wed, 14 Aug 1996 10:37:28 -0500
The tree you are referring to is Araucaria araucana. It certainly is an eye-catcher, although I'm not sure I'd want it in my yard! Michael Dirr states in his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants that it belongs in a horror movie. He also warns that the female cones are 5 to 8 inches thick and difficult to rake. The tree is hardy to Zone 7, which would include eastern North Carolina. In quoting Dirr "large tree, 50 to 80 feet with a pyrimidal-oval outline at maturity...Soil should be cool and moist.