Monkey Puzzle Tree

This tree is a native of the mountains of Chile and was first introduced to the Northern Hemisphere by Dr. Archibald Menzies at the end of the 18th century. Males and females are separate trees. It is considered to be the most primitive living conifer. Despite their bizarre silhouette, there is something intriguing about these strange trees, with their whorls of stiff, spreading branches and heavy, overlapping, spiny-pointed leaves.