SINCE the mid-nineteenth century, passion for the monkey puzzle tree with its mellifluous botanical name Araucaria araucana has grown and declined as horticultural fashions dictated.  At one time, they were found only in the gardens of fashionable homes across the land but today, they’re once again considered rather vulgar and unattractive.  Botanists worldwide continue to study these coniferous plants and find their habit of developing branches with scaly whorls arranged like the spokes of a wheel, fascinating.  And instead of growing one whorl a year (like pines, spruce, and the like) it averages just two-thirds of a single whorl in a year. From this it follows that if you count 66 rings on the trunk of a felled monkey puzzle, it may represent 100 years of growth.