Thought to have been extinct for 2 million years, Wollemia nobilis was discovered less than 160km from Sydney, in 1994. With less than 40 known adult specimens, it is said to be the world's rarest tree.

The trees grow up to 35 metres tall, have fern-like leaves, bark resembling bubbling chocolate, & shed entire branches rather than individual leaves. They are single-sex, show no variation in DNA, & seem to clone themselves.

More Info

Wollemi Pine Home Page 

Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. Includes information on where to see these "living fossils".

Threatened Species Network 

Wollemi Pine fact sheet.

Threatened species conservation - Recovery planning 

National Parks & Wildlife Service

Australia's own living fossil - The Wollemi Pine from 50 million years ago 

Geology One article about our "Jurassic tree".

The Wollemi Pine - A Folk History 

By a local writer.

Horticultural Digest 

Short article. 

Only a ? in a Gilded Cage | Living Fossils 

Creation Science Association of Alberta

Seeing Them 

In the Wild

Forget it. The exact location of the 38 adult trees & approximately 130 seedlings is one of the best-kept secrets in Australia.

In Captivity

See Wollemi Pine Home Page 

Getting One

Birkdale Wholesale Nursery 

Contracted to breed the Wollemi Pine for commercial distribution. Normal & prostrate forms are being bred.

All I want is a Wollemi for Christmas 

A dwarf version for a Christmas tree? Qld Dept. of Primary Industry. 

Habitat

Wollemi National Park covers 500,000 ha of some of the most rugged & inaccessible terrain in mainland Australia.  The sandstone massif is criss-crossed by gorges & canyons, some only a few metres wide & hundreds of metres deep.  The pines grow in the warm temperate rainforest environment of deep canyons where the soil, although still of very poor quality, tends to remain damp. Three stands of the trees have been found, in close proximity to each other.