18 Comments
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Janisse Ray's avatar

What an incredible tree. I am smitten by all the eyes in her trunk. Thank you for the introduction, Jane.

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Jane Pike's avatar

Thank you! As they get older, the lower branches fall off and those markings on the trunk are what are left behind.

Javier commented below that in Spanish the tree is called Pewen (Monkey Puzzle is an english colonised name). I searched Pewen and came across this beautiful trailer based on a documentary about the tree- I think you'll like it too.

I just added it into the main post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqJm0RSQyMg

xx

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Becki Clifton's avatar

What an AMAZING tree, Jane! I’m in love. Reminds me of my Seeing sweet gum Tree on steroids with all those eyes. She’s watching the world destroy itself for hundreds of years. The video at the end made me cry.

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Jane Pike's avatar

They really are ❤️ Watching the video made me really emotional too. The trees I see here are in isolation, as garden ornaments, not placed within those magnificent forests full of their own kind. Thank you for your lovely words (and for reading!) xx

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Karyn Neave's avatar

What a fabulous first read as I eat my breakfast! I am off to teach beautiful children today and your words have set me up with curious thoughts to put to them and get their young minds searching. Thank you again Jane for sharing xx

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Jane Pike's avatar

Thank you so much Karyn- I love this so much! xx

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JL Risso's avatar

we call it Pewén.

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Jane Pike's avatar

Javier, I so appreciate this knowledge, thank you! I searched Pewén after you commented and came across this doco trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqJm0RSQyMg

Thank you for letting me know! xx

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JL Risso's avatar

that was narrated by Joel Maripil a Mapuche singer in his native language : Mapuzungun.

The Pewén tree is so central to the lives of peoples from the mountains thay they called themselves as such : Pewenche " peoples of the pewen"

DId you know that this tree is also one of the few that is gendered? there are males and females.

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Jane Pike's avatar

Yes, I read this on my reading travels (the gendered part).

The trailer is gorgeous- thank you for sharing all this information. It’s made my day learning more ❤️

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JL Risso's avatar

the full doc (30min) is here https://vimeo.com/551252281

I'm already looking forward to watch it :D

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Jane Pike's avatar

Snap! I found this also when I realised the other was a trailer- I've saved it to watch later too! 😀

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Mary Dansak's avatar

I loved learning about this tree. Excelent!

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Jane Pike's avatar

Thank you so much for reading Mary! 🍃❤️

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Mary Dansak's avatar

I love trees and good writing! How did I misspell excellent? 🤣

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Jane Pike's avatar

I thought it was excelent. Adds personal flair 😆💃

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Jane Lancaster's avatar

Fascinating. Thank you :)

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Jane Pike's avatar

Thank you for reading Jane! xx

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