Thursday, October 11, 2012

the tree museum*

Walking today in our Nation's capital, I saw the strangest tree. It was on the corner of 31st & R NW if you want to go look at it. It seemed like something from the spiny forest in southern Madagascar than a domestic specimen.

I'd really like to know what kind of tree it is. Here are some pics:





(clic the pics for even more exotic images)

There are little spikes on the actual tree trunk as well.

Any ideas?

*and they charged the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em!



8 comments:

gabriel said...

I'm guessing it's some kind of cycad. They tend to be weirdly perfect looking at a distance and just plane weird close up.

Fabian S said...

It is called Araucaria

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araucaria

Unknown said...

Also known as the "Monkey Puzzle Pine", presumably because they would be difficult for a simian to climb.

sfw said...

Commonly known as 'Norfolk Island Pine' in Australia. Supposedly the British claimed Norfolk island as they thought that the tree would be ideal for ship masts and timber.

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caterwawlen said...

It's a Monkey puzzle tree, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araucaria_araucana. It's related to the Norfolk island pine that is familiar in North America as a houseplant, will often be decorated as a sort of indoor Christmas tree at big box retailers. I thought it would be too cold this far north, but I saw one in a front yard 10 minutes walk from the Duvel Moortgaat brewery in Belgium. The zone rating I see for it is 7b-10b, which means something to a gardener and means gibberish to everyone else.

Arthur said...

Seems a araucaria to me. A Brazillian kind of pine tree i think. I had one at home as a kid, my father grew up at southern Brazil

Dr. Tufte said...

This is how we know you don't have kids, Angus :)

Kids like dinosaurs, and professors kids can learn an awful lot about dinosaurs. Dinosaur documentaries are full of these trees because they were common at that time. They're probably all CGI, but they're making an effort to make things look realistic.