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Wollemi Pine

(Redirected from Wollemia)
Pinophyta: Conifers
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Araucariaceae
Genus: Wollemia
Species: nobilis
Binomial name
Wollemia nobilis

The Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis) is a remarkable coniferous tree that was discovered in 1994 in a remote series of narrow, steep-sided sandstone gorges in a mild temperate-zone rainforest wilderness area of the Wollemi National Park in New South Wales, 150 kilometers north-west of the Australian city of Sydney.

The discovery by David Noble, a park ranger of the Wollemi National Park in the Blue Mountains only occurred because of his adventurous bushwalking and rock climbing abilities. Luckily, he had good botanical knowledge and quickly recognised the trees as unusual and worthy of further investigation. Noble returned with specimens that he expected someone would be able to identify. However, it was soon found to be new to science. Further study would be needed to establish its relationship to other conifers. All that was at first suspected by the scientists was that it had certain characteristics of the 200-million-year-old Araucariaceae family, but was not quite the same as any living species.

Comparison with living and fossilised Araucariaceae proved this to be the case, but the new tree was quite unlike it relatives. It was duly placed into a new genus in the Family Araucariaceae with the other extant genera Agathis and Araucaria.

Fossils resembling Wollemia are widespread in Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica, but W. nobilis is the sole living member of its genus.

Fewer than a hundred trees are known to be growing wild. A breeding programme is underway with the first commercial release of this plant worldwide scheduled for 2005, with sales in Australia to follow in 2006. It should prove itself to be a valuable tree for ornament, either planted in open ground or for tubs and planters. It is also proving itself to be far more adaptable and cold-hardy than its restricted distribution would suggest, tolerating temperatures down to -5°C. Like many other Australian trees, the Wollemi pine is susceptiple to the root fungus phytophthora, so this may limit its potential as a timber tree.

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Last updated: 10-29-2004 13:20:21