A few weeks ago, after construction detours in Portland, Oregon sent me down a seemingly endless series of wrong turns, I stumbled across something I never thought I’d see in person: a monkey puzzle ...

Some trees are remarkable simply because of how long they have been standing. The monkey puzzle tree, known scientifically as Araucaria araucana, belongs to a lineage so ancient that its ancestors ...

This monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucaria) is one of the stranger trees growing in the Smithsonian’s Enid A. Haupt Garden in Washington, D.C. Its triangular leaves, which cover the entire tree, ...

The ancient monkey puzzle tree has distinctive spiny leaves and intricate scaly branches. Its unusual features, scientists believe, evolved as a defense against towering, long-necked dinosaurs.