Wollemia nobilis. Wollemii Pine
In today’s world discovering a new tree is so unusual as to not even be considered. More so a tree that has evidence of its existence in 200 million year old fossils.
Thus the story of Wollemia nobilis. A true living fossel.
David Noble a New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Officer and avid bush walker discovered a small grove of these trees in 1994 in a rainforest gorge within the Wollemii National Park in the Blue Mountains just 200 kilometres from Sydney, Australia’s largest City.
Scientists were excited by the find and it has been named Wollemia after the national park and nobilis after David Noble who found the tree. It is restricted to about 40 large specimens and 200 smaller ones.
While in popular literature it has been called the Wollemii Pine it is no relation to the genus Pinus but is a member of the family Araucariaceae which includes Agathis and Araucaria. Agathus australis, NZ Kauri, being New Zealand’s most well-known tree.
Secrecy still surrounds the exact location of this site of discovery in order to protect the tree and to ensure it survives into the future. It appears that one or two people may have found the site and introduced, unwittingly, the fungal disease Phytophthora cinnamomi to the site. This is the same genus that is affecting the NZ Kauri trees in the Auckland area.
A propagation programme was started to make this species available to botanic gardens in Australia and around the world to ensure its survival. Recently sales have been allowed to the public to increase the number of plants growing in various locations. It has even been promoted as a living Christmas tree.
The trees produce both male and female cones with the male cones lower down the tree and females higher up. It is wind pollinated. Male cones are small, sausage shaped and open easily to release the pollen. Female cones are round and spiky, developed to catch as much pollen as possible.
The female cones take up to 20 months to mature. Seed production is increasing the number of trees available but is limited as not all seed produced are viable.
Each tree in nature has exactly the same DNA which is most unusual.
A further unusual feature of this tree is the way it grows. We are used to such trees producing a single trunk but not Wollemii. It is easily coppiced meaning it can send up multiple stems from ground level with some having up to 100 stems.
The branching from the main trunk is unique in that nearly all the side branches never have further branching but rather stay as a single branch. After a few years, each branch either terminates in a cone (either male or female) or ceases growth. After this, or when the cone becomes mature, the branch dies. New branches then grow from dormant buds on the main trunk.
In the garden it is a lovely and unusual tree but of course there are not may of a large size to see how they will grow and shape over a long period of time. The foliage is a pleasant green colour and the branching attractive. In the wild it has grown up to 40 metres high.
The images below were taken in the Royal Melbourne Botanic Gardens, Melbourne International Flower Show and Christchurch Botanic Gardens.
Fortunately being recently discovered there is ample records of its discovery, history, naming and subsequent introduction into cultivation.
Websites for further information are listed at the end of this article.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wollemia
http://www.conifers.org/ar/Wollemia.php
https://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/interns-2004/wollemia-nobilis.html
http://www.wollemipine.com/
http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:986236-1
June 2018 https://theconversation.com/where-the-old-things-are-australias-most-ancient-trees-65893
Thus the story of Wollemia nobilis. A true living fossel.
David Noble a New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Officer and avid bush walker discovered a small grove of these trees in 1994 in a rainforest gorge within the Wollemii National Park in the Blue Mountains just 200 kilometres from Sydney, Australia’s largest City.
Scientists were excited by the find and it has been named Wollemia after the national park and nobilis after David Noble who found the tree. It is restricted to about 40 large specimens and 200 smaller ones.
While in popular literature it has been called the Wollemii Pine it is no relation to the genus Pinus but is a member of the family Araucariaceae which includes Agathis and Araucaria. Agathus australis, NZ Kauri, being New Zealand’s most well-known tree.
Secrecy still surrounds the exact location of this site of discovery in order to protect the tree and to ensure it survives into the future. It appears that one or two people may have found the site and introduced, unwittingly, the fungal disease Phytophthora cinnamomi to the site. This is the same genus that is affecting the NZ Kauri trees in the Auckland area.
A propagation programme was started to make this species available to botanic gardens in Australia and around the world to ensure its survival. Recently sales have been allowed to the public to increase the number of plants growing in various locations. It has even been promoted as a living Christmas tree.
The trees produce both male and female cones with the male cones lower down the tree and females higher up. It is wind pollinated. Male cones are small, sausage shaped and open easily to release the pollen. Female cones are round and spiky, developed to catch as much pollen as possible.
The female cones take up to 20 months to mature. Seed production is increasing the number of trees available but is limited as not all seed produced are viable.
Each tree in nature has exactly the same DNA which is most unusual.
A further unusual feature of this tree is the way it grows. We are used to such trees producing a single trunk but not Wollemii. It is easily coppiced meaning it can send up multiple stems from ground level with some having up to 100 stems.
The branching from the main trunk is unique in that nearly all the side branches never have further branching but rather stay as a single branch. After a few years, each branch either terminates in a cone (either male or female) or ceases growth. After this, or when the cone becomes mature, the branch dies. New branches then grow from dormant buds on the main trunk.
In the garden it is a lovely and unusual tree but of course there are not may of a large size to see how they will grow and shape over a long period of time. The foliage is a pleasant green colour and the branching attractive. In the wild it has grown up to 40 metres high.
The images below were taken in the Royal Melbourne Botanic Gardens, Melbourne International Flower Show and Christchurch Botanic Gardens.
Fortunately being recently discovered there is ample records of its discovery, history, naming and subsequent introduction into cultivation.
Websites for further information are listed at the end of this article.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wollemia
http://www.conifers.org/ar/Wollemia.php
https://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/interns-2004/wollemia-nobilis.html
http://www.wollemipine.com/
http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:986236-1
June 2018 https://theconversation.com/where-the-old-things-are-australias-most-ancient-trees-65893
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