A
t the time when dinosaurs dominated the world,
they chewed on conifers which had only been
seen by palaeontologists in fossils recovered
millions of years later.
Until 1994, that conifer was
thought - like the dinosaur - to be extinct.
Until an...
More
A
t the time when dinosaurs dominated the world,
they chewed on conifers which had only been
seen by palaeontologists in fossils recovered
millions of years later.
Until 1994, that conifer was
thought - like the dinosaur - to be extinct.
Until an
enthusiastic bush-walker on a hike through the
Wollemi National Park in the Blue Mountains just
outside Sydney, discovered this 70 million-year-old
conifer by chance, hidden away in a narrow canyon.
The excitement and interest spread throughout the botanical
world because this tree, which was named Wollemi nobelis or
Wollemi pine, is considered to be one of the rarest tree species
found on earth, with just 100 trees discovered in the wild.
Over
the evolution of the planet, the conifer has survived 17 ice ages
and has shown itself to be incredibly adaptable to wide ranges in
temperature.
The Wollemi pine has been propagated and nurtured over
many years by Forestry Plantations Queensland for the Botanic
Garden Trust Sydney, until there was
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