Propagating an "Extinct" Pine

 

A Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis) in cultivation in its native Australia. The Wollemi, with its fernlike foliage, belongs to the ancient coniferous family Araucariaceae, dating back over 200 million years to the time of the dinosaurs.

In 1994, David Noble a wildlife service officer for New South Wales National Parks came upon a small grove of Wollemi pines (Wollemia nobilis) in Australia’s Blue Mountains. This was newsworthy because the pine was only known through the fossil record and was believed extinct for two million years. Since its rediscovery, scientists and horticulturists have been studying and propagating the pine, with royalties from their sales going to conservation efforts. Now the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (bbg.org) has secured a Wollemi pine specimen. BBG’s Wollemi is displayed in the Steinhardt Conservatory’s Trail of Evolution, which traces the development of plant life from its origins four billion years ago to today. BBG is propagating the pine and selling a number of them under the National Geographic brand.