Monkey Puzzle at Invermay

I’ve shared one photo of this monkey puzzle tree with you already, and now I’d like to devote a post just to this one tree. Its the best specimen that I’ve yet come across and I was pretty excited to find it! Taken at Invermay Agricultural Research Centre, Dunedin, New Zealand on Sun 26 Nov 2017.

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Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria araucana). NOT native to New Zealand! The Eden Project has a well-presented web page if you’d like to read more about this tree.

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As I admired this tree I couldn’t help thinking it looks like a natural Christmas Tree complete with decorations! Nigel observed that there were no old cones visible and this is probably the first year its coned.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAClick on photo to enlarge. Cone detail. Awesome photo taken by Nigel and already shared on his Growplan blog.

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Above: Foliage detail, taken by Nigel.

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Above: Foliage detail, taken by Nigel.

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Foliage side-on. Very spikey!

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I really love the patterns and textures!

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Shadow detail on tarmac.

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The Monkey Puzzle with a native beech tree as near neighbour.

Text and Photos by Exploring Colour (2017) unless otherwise attributed

 

22 thoughts on “Monkey Puzzle at Invermay”

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  1. Pingback: Monkey Puzzle Tree – Exploring Colour
  2. Pingback: 2018 Is A New Canvas – Exploring Colour

  3. The Monkey Puzzle Tree is an amazing tree! I went to the web page and discovered how very resilient and historical this tree has become. I must say that this Invermay tree is a spectacular one indeed, especially compared to the photo on their page. Nigel’s photos are wonderful, even before enlarging them. Thank-you for introducing me to this tree.

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