Around Thanksgiving every year, grocery and big box stores set up outdoor displays of pretty, miniature evergreen trees decorated with red ribbons. These tiny, potted trees are Norfolk Island pines, and they are far more interesting than you would imagine. Many people think that because of its common name, Norfolk Island pine is an eastern North American native pine tree. It is neither North American nor a member of the pine family. Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria heterophylla) is an evergreen conifer member of a pre-historic family that survived the extinction of the dinosaurs only on Norfolk Island, which is located in the South Pacific between New Zealand, Australia, and the island of New Caledonia. Its cousin is the South American monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana). Discovered by Captain James Cook on his second Pacific voyage in 1772 to 1775, the 100-200-foot-tall, straight-trunked Norfolk Island pines initially were deemed strong enough to use as masts on sailing ships. Despi...