There are lots of monkey puzzle trees around Vancouver. Araucaria araucana belongs to the Araucariaceae, an ancient lineage of conifer. It is native to Chile and Argentina (it is the national tree of Chile). This picture was taken at VanDusen Garden.
Araucaria araucana is mostly dioecious, that is, pollen cones and seed cones are found on separate plants. Monoecy occurs, but not commonly (there is a tree with both pollen and seed cones on Point Grey Road). This tree is male with elongate pollen cones.
A closer look.
The seed cones are large, up to 20 cm in diameter. This picture was taken on Burnaby Street at Bute.
The seeds are edible. I got to try them on Salt Spring Island a few years ago. They are starchy, mildly sweet and slightly resinous….a mild pine nut.
The common name comes from a comment about a tree planted in a garden in England in the mid 1800’s: “it would puzzle a monkey to climb that”. Evidently, there are no monkeys in the region this tree is native. The leaves are very sharp so it would definitely not be easy to climb….monkey or human!