Visiting a Fossil Tree: Wollemi Pine
Last week I visited a very very very old tree well this one wasn’t THAT old but its species (the Wollemi™ Pine
is one of the world'soldest and rarest plants dating back to the time of the dinosaurs. With less than 100 adult trees known to exist in the wild, the Wollemi™ Pine is now thefocus of extensive research to safeguard its survival. Anyone can own one now –and the one I visited is in the Mount Annan Botanical Gardens in Sydney. The Wollemi was found near Sydney – asrecently as 1994. Assist in theconservation effort by growing your own Wollemi™ Pine and becoming part of oneof the most dramatic comebacks in natural history. There’s a tabluar detail set on the official home page ofthis fossil tree at http://www.wollemipine.com/
Scientific name | Wollemia nobilis |
| Family | Araucariaceae |
| Relatives | Kauri, Norfolk Island, Hoop, Bunya and Monkey Puzzle pines |
| When discovered | 1994 |
| Where discovered | 200 km west of Sydney in a rainforest gorge within the 500,000 hectare Wollemi National Park in the Blue Mountains of Australia |
| Discovered by | David Noble, a NSW National Parks and Wildlife Officer |
| Age | Wollemi belongs to the 200 million year old Araucariaceae family |
| Oldest known fossil | 90 million years |
| Wild population | Less than 100 mature trees |
| Characteristics | Conifer with attractive, unusual dark green foliage, bubbly bark and sprouts multiple trunks |
| Growth habit | Fast growing in light, favours acid soils, and temperatures from - 5 to 45°C (23 to 113°F). Trials in the USA and Japan have indicated that it will survive temperatures as cold as -12°C (10.4 °F). |
| Height | The largest wild Wollemi Pine in the rainforest gorge is 40m tall |
| Width | This tree has a main trunk of 63cm in width |
The Wollemi is unique for many reasons – not least its great age—but also because of the Pine's habit of spontaneously sprouting multiple trunks from its base (known as self-coppicing) has proved a vital defence in withstanding damage through fire and other natural disasters. Another unusual characteristic of the Pine, commonto the Araucaria genus, is its habit of shedding whole branches rather than individual leaves.
The best bit I read about these fascinating ‘dinasaur’ treesis that their distinctive bark has been described as resembling bubbling chocolate
Yum – put me down for two bars of the Wollemi Pine! Order yours from http://www.wollemipine.com/order.php. Royalties from sales of the Wollemi Pine to support conservation of the Wollemi Pine and other rare and endangered plant species
That would be the Wollemi Pine, not Wollombi Pine...
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thanks-- silly mistake -- my flippers got crossed. You're form Wollombi -- so do you have a Wollemi pine?
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