A Living Fossil

19 years ago

Today I was introduced to a plant, actually a potentially large tree, called Australian Pine (not a true Pine), that was thought to be extinct for 160 million years.

Discovered in 1994, by a park employee of the Wollemia National Park, in a deep gorge about 90 mi. NW of Sydney.

Named Wollemia nobilis, after the location and founder, David Noble, the entire inventory of mature trees was determined to be 40 and about 200 seedlings, in three seperate locations. Some of the mature trees were estimated to be upwards of 1000 years old. I suppose cutting one down or boring one to count the growth rings would be unthinkable.

Cold hardiness is rated to only -5C (23F), so they would have to be grown as a potted specimen in this area, never attaining their wild stature of 85-120 Ft.

They were released for Commercial propagation in Dec. 2006, having previously been confined to Botanical gardens.

So far, the only US source is the National Geographic Foundation, with a portion of the proceeds ($105 ea. for a 1 Ft. specimen) going into trust to protect the wild population.

Another introduction for us plant collectors to add to the wish list!

Rb

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Comments (6)

quirkyquercus
19 years ago
What is the scientific name of the Austrailian Pine you are referring to?

Are you talking about Casuarina equisetifolia?
Iris GW
19 years ago
Did you actually see one in person? Someone posted about this on the Trees forum several months ago, but I had not heard any reports from someone that had seen one yet.
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quirkyquercus
19 years ago
Disregard my last. I missed it in the original post.
Wollemia nobilis
razorback33
Original Author
19 years ago
As stated above, the botanical name is Wollemia nobilis and it is in the Plant Family Araucariaceae, not related to Casuarina.
I know 3 people (Father, Son, Grandson) in the Atlanta area that have them. The one I saw was about I Ft. tall and the foliage was identical to published photos. The unusual bubbly bark (someone said it resembled Coco Puffs) and long slender cones were not present on the young specimen.
Rb
rosiew
19 years ago
I've got to see this tree! So glad you shared the info with us, Razorback. Would any of the people that have it be willing to show it?? I visited wollemipine.com which is the distributor. Clicked on USA, saw that it is rated hardy to 10 degrees F.

It's really beautiful.

Rosie in Sugar Hill

Here is a link that might be useful: Wollemi Pine
childers
19 years ago
Hi Folks

You may want to check out the conifer forum for much more detail on the Wollemi Pine

look under the threads
"Did anyone receive a Wollemi Pine from National Geographic"
"Wollemi Pine confessions"
etc
I had the first commercially available Wollemi Pines in the USA back in August not National Geographic.

Its a VERY interestion read on the conifer forum. Also check out the "WOLLEMIA" group on YAHOO GROUPS for some pretty lively and interest discussion regarding the quality of the NG plants compared to the ones I imported.

Regards

Bruce