Wollemi Pine - Wollemia Nobilis - Growing at Nymans DSC03609
I could tell that this was related to Aurucaria when we spotted it in Nymans. I loved the colour of the young growth, the strange growing tips and the way it filtered the sunlight. Since returning home we spotted a YouTube video about it.
The Wollemi Pine is one of the world's oldest and rarest trees belonging to a 200 million year old plant family. Previously thought to have been extinct, there are less than 100 specimens in the wild. It was discovered in 1994 by a bushwalker, David Noble, in a national park only 200km from Sydney, Australia. A small grove of seedlings was found and since then two further small groves have been discovered. Its discovery in the Greater Blue Mountains Area was a key factor in the area being inscribed on the World Heritage List in December 2000. The trees are protected by law to minimise human visits (to guard against plant diseases) with a conservation strategy. Measures were taken to guard the growth against destruction by bush fire. Horticultural experts believe that growing the Wollemi Pine in pots or in gardens and parks everywhere is one of the best forms of insurance against loss in the wild.
The Pines have grown in temperatures from -5 to 45°C (23 to 113°F) and trials in the USA and Japan have indicated that it will survive temperatures as cold as -12°C (10.4 °F). They are fast growing, respond well to light and favour acid soils. The Wollemi Pines produced from seeds and cuttings from the wild population are growing rapidly and averaging about half a metre in height a year.
A majestic conifer with attractive, unusual dark green foliage and bubbly bark, the Wollemi Pine can grows up to 40 metres high in the wild with a trunk diameter of over one metre. It has unusual pendulous foliage with light apple green new tips in spring and early summer contrasting against the older dark green foliage. Another unique feature is its pattern of branching with the mature foliage having two ranks of leaves along the branches. The pines grow on moist ledges in a deep rainforest gorge surrounded by rugged mountains and undisturbed forest. They have a tendency for self coppicing and for shedding entire branches.
The Wollemi Pine's closest living relatives are the Norfolk Island Pine, Bunya Pine, Hoop Pine, Monkey Puzzle Pine and Kauri Pine. The oldest known Wollemi Pine fossil dates back 90 million years; it was thought to be widespread across Gondwana and may date from the Jurassic 200 million years ago.
www.wollemipine.com/science.php
Wollemi Pine - Wollemia Nobilis - Growing at Nymans DSC03609
I could tell that this was related to Aurucaria when we spotted it in Nymans. I loved the colour of the young growth, the strange growing tips and the way it filtered the sunlight. Since returning home we spotted a YouTube video about it.
The Wollemi Pine is one of the world's oldest and rarest trees belonging to a 200 million year old plant family. Previously thought to have been extinct, there are less than 100 specimens in the wild. It was discovered in 1994 by a bushwalker, David Noble, in a national park only 200km from Sydney, Australia. A small grove of seedlings was found and since then two further small groves have been discovered. Its discovery in the Greater Blue Mountains Area was a key factor in the area being inscribed on the World Heritage List in December 2000. The trees are protected by law to minimise human visits (to guard against plant diseases) with a conservation strategy. Measures were taken to guard the growth against destruction by bush fire. Horticultural experts believe that growing the Wollemi Pine in pots or in gardens and parks everywhere is one of the best forms of insurance against loss in the wild.
The Pines have grown in temperatures from -5 to 45°C (23 to 113°F) and trials in the USA and Japan have indicated that it will survive temperatures as cold as -12°C (10.4 °F). They are fast growing, respond well to light and favour acid soils. The Wollemi Pines produced from seeds and cuttings from the wild population are growing rapidly and averaging about half a metre in height a year.
A majestic conifer with attractive, unusual dark green foliage and bubbly bark, the Wollemi Pine can grows up to 40 metres high in the wild with a trunk diameter of over one metre. It has unusual pendulous foliage with light apple green new tips in spring and early summer contrasting against the older dark green foliage. Another unique feature is its pattern of branching with the mature foliage having two ranks of leaves along the branches. The pines grow on moist ledges in a deep rainforest gorge surrounded by rugged mountains and undisturbed forest. They have a tendency for self coppicing and for shedding entire branches.
The Wollemi Pine's closest living relatives are the Norfolk Island Pine, Bunya Pine, Hoop Pine, Monkey Puzzle Pine and Kauri Pine. The oldest known Wollemi Pine fossil dates back 90 million years; it was thought to be widespread across Gondwana and may date from the Jurassic 200 million years ago.
www.wollemipine.com/science.php