I’ve written about the monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana) before. This is a evergreen tree commonly found in the northwest. but it did not originate here. It is native to argentina and chila, specifically the andes.

When we bought our home in the north of seattle, we found ourselves in the shadow of a 50 foot monkey puzzle tree. It’s like no other tree I’ve seen. It does remind me of the boojum tree of baja California. Like the boojum, it is one of a kind. It doesn’t have leaves it has scales. And these scales are exceptionally hard and sharp. Imagine crossing an alligator with a cedar. there is a slight christmas tree appearance but the branches are long and scaley, impossible to grasp with the hand without getting cut. it is sharp yet i’ve seen birds land on it. We had a cat go from the room to it. I don’t see how it didn’t cry out in pain.

The monkey puzzle tree grows about a foot a year. there are both male and female of these trees. We have a female. They produce seeds in the bowling ball sized shells called monkey balls. they remind me of coconuts. Inside are thousands of seeds. It takes two years for the monkey balls to form and then they drop to the ground splattering the seeds everywhere. The seeds remind me of indian arrowheads and acorns. they’re brown and flat and round on one end. From the flat top they taper to a sharp point on the other end, a triangular shape. The Indigenous peoples of the andes found these nuts tasty and nutricious. The squirrels like them too and if you don’t gather up immediately they are chewed on by the next day. A monkey puzzle tree ages 20 t0 30 years before it produces seed. some say 40 years is likely. Mine has produced seed.

this year, 2026, the tree dropped the monkey balls fell and i came home to a mess of these acorn looking things on the driveway. There was a pile of a hundred or so and an equal number spread across five feet radius. I noticed some dark and chewed on and other pristine brown and fresh. I gathered the fresh ones, taking in about 100. Some went in good soil and brought in the house. Some in pots and good soil went to a cold box. And some went into the freezer for stratification and there they remain.

they like warmth so they thrived inside the house. Four squirmed from their acorn shell in one pot. I took several struggling seeds form the cold frame and brought them in. they immediately sprouted. Currently, I have at least 10 growing inside in pots.

A couple of days ago, I found one growing wild outside at the foot of the mother plant? Will these survive? If they do they have a life span that can reach 1,000 years.