Monkey Puzzles
William Tighe and his son, also called William, built up a collection of newly discovered trees at Woodstock from Asia and from North and South America, among which were Monkey Puzzle trees. Monkey Puzzle (Araucaria araucana) trees were considered to be very unusual when they were first planted in Europe. The seeds were initially quite rare and the tree was mainly planted in great gardens.
A single Monkey Puzzle tree was planted in Woodstock Gardens in 1825 to commemorate the marriage of William Tighe to Lady Lousia Lennox. Later on in the century thirty one pairs of Monkey Puzzle trees were planted to form an avenue. The trees, however, did not grow well due to damp ground conditions. In order to remedy the situation the trees were then replanted on mounds in the 1860s in an attempt to drain the soil so the trees would survive. As a result the roots of the trees were exposed but this method of tree planting was very fashionable at the time.
The Monkey Puzzle tree is native to Chile. Monkey Puzzle forests were once widespread on the coastal mountains of Chile but the forests are no longer as extensive due to logging, disease and an over collection of seeds. The government of Chile declared Monkey Puzzle forests a national reserve in an attempt to save the forests. Unfortunately this means that the local Indian population do not have access to the trees resulting in a negative effect on their culture as Monkey Puzzle trees are sacred to the local Indian population. The local Indians also use seeds from the trees as food for themselves and their animals and they sell the seeds to make money.
Seeds from a Monkey Puzzle tree were first bought to England from Chile by Archibald Menzies in the 1790s. The Monkey Puzzle was originally called an Araucaria imbricata. Araucaria was the name of a local Indian tribe and imbricata describes the over-lapping scale-like leaves. The tree got the name Monkey puzzle when someone looking at the tree said ìto climb that would puzzle a monkeyî.
Monkey Puzzle trees were considered fashionable by the 19th century and were more freely available. Although they were planted throughout Britain and Ireland, the trees only survived in milder coastal areas.
