The Monkey Puzzle tree, Araucaria araucana, is a familiar site in many front gardens, easily identified, once you have been introduced. Originally known as Chilean Pine, its Monkey Puzzle nickname was a Victorian addition – certainly hard for a monkey to climb, if it ever met any.
An evergreen tree dating back to Jurassic times it can grow to 50m and live for a thousand years. A native of Argentina and Chile, where it is known as Pehuén and is sacred to the local Pehuenche people, trees are either male or female and the pinecones can take more than two years to mature.
This specimen is 170 years old and is an icon of Biddulph Grange.