by Kate Booker

In 1994, National Parks & Wildlife Officer David Noble was bushwalking in the Wollemi National Park, some 200km west of Sydney, Australia, when he stumbled across an extraordinary sight: one of the world’s oldest and rarest trees, thought to have gone extinct some 2 million years ago.

Wow!

The oldest fossils of the Wollemi Pine date back some 90 million years, placing it firmly in the age of the dinosaurs, which died out some 65 million years ago.  In fact, Professor Carrick Chambers of Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens described it as “the equivalent of finding a small dinosaur on Earth.”

So what does it look like?

Wollemi folliage with male cones

(Photo by “peganum” used under a Creative Commons licence)

in botanic gardens, young Wollemis were originally kept in cages as they were so rare

I’ve seen a few Wollemi now, first in the Botanic Gardens in Sydney, encased in a cage to protect it in the early days before they were more widely propagated and every tree was incredibly precious.  I’ve since seen them in botanic gardens in other countries, where it’s immediately recognizable, and now I know it and recognize it, it feels a bit like bumping into an old friend.

I’m the first to admit I don’t know much about plants and trees, but even to me, it’s an unusual-looking tree, not quite like anything else I’ve ever seen.

(Photo by mikkelz used under a Creative Commons licence)

At a glance, it’s a fairly unassuming conifer that grows to a majestic 40 metres high with a trunk diameter of over one metre, but look closer and it really is very different from other trees. It has unusual foliage with light apple-green new tips in spring / early summer which become a dark blue-green as it matures.

Mature foliage features two rows of leaves on the branches, not unlike the spines on a Stegosaur’s back and its bark is also very distinctive and has been described as looking very much like bubbling chocolate. (It does!)

Wollemi bark looks like bubbling chocolate

(Photo by Tony Rodd used under a Creative Commons licence)

There are fewer than 100 mature Wollemi Pines in the wild and the exact location of the few remaining wild trees is a well-guarded secret, but since 2007, they have been available to members of the general public to buy and grow at home, with royalties from sale going to support conservation of both the Wollemi Pine itself as well as other rare and endangered plants.

IUCN Status

The Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis) is on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as “critically endangered”

Where can I see a Wollemi Pine?

There are now a number of Wollemis in botanic gardens, not just in Australia but around the world, including Canada, the UK, Ireland, Brussels, The Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Japan and Taiwan

For a more comprehensive list, click here

What can I do?

Grow your own! As with most endangered species, the greatest threats to the tree’s survival are due to humans: bushfires, the introduction of weeds and plant disease.  The good news is horticulturalists believe one of the best forms of insurance is to grow Wollemi in pots, gardens and parks everywhere!  In addition, royalties from sales of Wollemi Pines will fund ongoing conservation research.

They are available to buy in Australia, the UK, mainland Europe and Japan, click here to order one.