Conifer Conservation Dr Darach Lupton Wollemia nobilis

Today for #BiodiversityWeek, our curator Dr. Darach Lupton tells us some exciting news about the Wollemi pine, the new metacollection (a botanical collection shared by separate organisations but cared for collaboratively to research and conserve the species for the future). ‘The Wollemi pine has been dubbed the ‘dinosaur tree’ because fossil records show this incredible tree was living 200 million years ago alongside the dinosaurs. Thought to have become extinct between 70 and 90 million years ago, a chance discovery in 1994 revealed a small group of living trees in Australia and since then there has been an international effort to make sure the remaining species is not lost.

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Interesting to note, specimens planted in Ireland, the UK and Oregon in the past 20 years are enormous and healthy. Specimens in Aus planted at the same time or earlier are typically smaller and scraggly. The reason it was undiscovered and almost extinct - it’s a relic of a long gone temperate Australian climate. It doesn’t belong in its native environment.