Puzzling

A monkey-puzzle tree. For some reason, we all know them - because they are so distinctive, I suppose, and I remember the 'joke' name amusing me as a child, making it memorable. And they are so very odd: half cactus, one-quarter thistle, but built like a tree, potentially a very large one, if they live long enough. Like many plants that first evolved long ago but survive as recognisably the same species, they carry an aura of their primordial origins (I always think the same thing about the equally ancient horsetails) - they are sharp edged and pointed to puzzle, not monkeys, but dinosaurs, when they shared the earth in common 150-200 million years ago

There can't be many critically endangered species with which we are all so familar. In their indigenous homeland they have been depleted by all the usual suspects: logging, habitat loss, invasive species, disease. It will be ironic if it is the gung ho Victorian plant collectors and aristocratic garden enthusiasts who brought them to Britain have helped to ensure their survival, at least for a while (though Wiki says ex-patriate Cornish miners also played a role, by sending seeds home). 

There is more about the tree's significance in pre-colonial Chile - where it was a key food-source - and its transfer to Britain here

Our daughter took us to see this one, in a Birmingham park, because it looks as if it is dying - many of the leaves brown, not green, and this ugly exudation adhering to the bark, like a frozen scream. There is no obvious reason for its death

If our journal photo is supposed to represent our day, this is a fail. A solitary sad moment on a very happy day of grandparent hugs and memory-making