How can you tell a Wollemi Pine?

What do they look like? The Wollemi Pine is a majestic conifer that 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.

Why is the Wollemi Pine nicknamed the dinosaur tree?

Wollemia nobilis has been named a ‘living fossil’ or a ‘dinosaur tree’ because it represents the only remaining member of an ancient genus, dating back to the time of the dinosaurs. During the colder months, the tree remains dormant and a white waxy coating develops over its growing buds.

What is unique in Wollemi Pine tree?

Another unusual characteristic of the Pine, common to the Araucaria genus, is its habit of shedding whole branches rather than individual leaves. The distinct bark which resembles bubbling chocolate is also unique to the Wollemi Pine.

How many Wollemi pines are left?

The Wollemi Pine is currently known from one population of fewer than 100 adult trees in several stands and about 200–300 juveniles/seedlings in total from within the Wollemi National Park and the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area (Botanic Gardens Trust 2004b; NSW DEC 2007).

Is the Wollemi pine tree a dinosaur tree?

There’s a tree that once covered the whole of Australia, then dwindled to a dozen examples, and is now spread around the world. We call it the Wollemi pine ( Wollemia nobilis ), but you could call it the dinosaur tree. Fossil evidence indicates that between 200 million and 100 million years ago, Wollemi pine was present across all of Australia.

Where are the Wollemi pine trees in Australia?

The extraordinary wollemi pine dates back to the time of the dinosaurs. This living fossil was thought to be extinct for two million years until a small population was discovered in the Blue Mountains of Australia in 1994. Today, the species is critically endangered and restricted to fewer than 100 trees in Wollemi National Park, Australia.

Is the Wollemi pine still alive in the wild?

Dramatic climate changes during the Neogene and Quaternary led to the dying out of most Wollemi Pine populations. Today, the only place where Wollemi Pines are still found alive in the wild, not as fossils is the Wollemi National Park in the Blue Mountains. Fancy Sipping a Pint in a 1700-Year-Old Tree? You Can at The Baobab Tree Bar

Where are the fossils of the Wollemia tree found?

Before the relict population was discovered in Wollemi National Park, the most recent known fossils of the genus date from approximately 2 million years ago in Tasmania. It is thus described as a living fossil or, alternatively, a Lazarus taxon . Fewer than a hundred trees are known to be growing wild, in three localities not far apart.