Monkey Puzzles - Araucarias - in the UK
Some years ago, the Society launched a project to locate and show the “Araucarias in the UK”, gathering photos of the trees from all over the country. Members and friends were invited to contribute, sending in their photographs whenever they saw one of these iconic trees, stating the location of the sighting.
So far, we have managed to pin nearly over 200 photographs of monkey puzzle tree!
We want to encourage our members and friends to keep looking and keep sending
us their photos, indicating the location and even better, whenever possible,
the postcode of the sighting to info@anglochileansociety.org.
So, keep looking and keep clicking! Maybe you hadn't noticed and your neighbour has
one in her garden, or maybe you walk past one on your daily commute!
Send us your photos and let’s try to reach 300!
Araucaria The Monkey Puzzle book
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Author David Gedye raised £3,200 selling his book. The money was sent to Fundación Chilco in Chile -https://fundacionchilco.cl/ - who have used the money to help fund their reforestation project in the Kurarewe, Región de la Araucanía, South of Chile https://www.winolfeanumka.com/quienes-somos/ - The work is supported by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh who sent staff to Chile to help with seed collection and species propagation techniques.
Chilean Trees
Our member David Pearson has written a very interesting blog about Chilean trees and, of course, the beautiful Araucaria.
To read the blog, click on the icon below.
Monkey Map by Sarah Horton
Sarah has created her own Monkey Map and although her work with the map has finished and she is no longer receiving information about new locations, her work is available and we, the monkey puzzle lovers, can enjoy it now.
She catalogued around 3000 trees across the UK and abroad.
If you want to see her work click HERE.
Everything you need to know about the Araucaria, Chile's National Tree
It is called Pehuén in the aboriginal Mapuche language, best known as the Araucaria, this tree is representative of Chile and is one of the most loved trees on this side of the world.
Impressive beauty and always green, people from all over the world travel thousands of kilometers to hug one of the oldest trees on the planet, the Araucaria, our national tree.
Its trunk is thick and cracked, it has pointy and scaly branches, and a beautiful silhouette that can reach up to 50 meters high. Its genetic history dates back 240 million years, making a walk through the woods with Araucarias a magical experience, even to the point that is has been fighting against the threat of disappearing.
Unfortunately, currently its distribution has been reduced to a 30 thousand hectare area, therefore, it has been declared an endangered species.
This tree has been a symbol of the aboriginal people of central and southern Chile for centuries. The Araucaria is extremely slow growing and long living, there are even some older than 1,600 years. It reaches its reproductive maturity between the age of 100 and 300, giving centuries of people a tasty fruit to eat: the pine nut, an edible seed that the Pehuenche people used as the basis of their diet.
Continue reading HERE
Research-based film about the presence of the Chilean native tree “Araucaria araucana” or “Monkey Puzzle tree” in the UK. The video essay blends a documentary and poetic style, to investigate the origin of the name in English and its relationship with its autochthonous name. Hence, it explores the idea of identification through landscape and Botanics. It relies on subjects such as migration, post colonialism, identity, and the sacredness of the tree.
Anglo Chilean Society
Monkey Puzzle's Collection UK
