Araucaria araucana is a highly recognisable species due to its distinctive foliage and growth habit. Thought to be collected from the Governor's dinner table and returned in the pocket of Archibald Menzies who germinated them on his return voyage, this tree species is now at risk in its native habitats in Chile. This plant is described as a living fossil as it remains essentially unchanged from earlier geological times and there are no living relatives. It produces highly distinctive, regularly branching stems which follow the mathematical Fibonacci series in their arrangement, producing dark green, rigid, spiny, pointed scales. Also produces cones that take 2-3 years to ripen.