Wollemi Pine

A lovely day at the Arb. It felt warm, a bit breezy, and this morning, there was actually some weak sunshine. Admittedly brief but it's nice to see the sun all the same.

This tree was thought to have been extinct for millions of years. It had been known about from the fossil record and the rock layers in which the fossils were found showed that it had lived alongside the dinosaurs. In 1994, a group of the trees was found in Wollemi State Park, Australia. Appropriately, the name of the park and subsequently this tree is said to derive from the aboriginal word for the area meaning 'look around you'.

It's not actually a pine but related to the monkey puzzle tree. Since the discovery and in order to ensure the survival of the species, many plants have been propagated, and hundreds of thousands of saplings have been planted around the world, including two at the Yorkshire Arboretum. 

One problem, the trees are all genetically identical, which means that they are very susceptible to any plant pathogens that they haven't evolved to resist. Anything that could infect and injure one tree would hurt them all. To prevent infection, the public is forbidden entry to the Wollemi site in Australia.  However, some folk see this as a challenge and may have intoduced strains of Phytopthera (a fungus like water mould) via their unwashed boots. A living fossil may yet succumb to an infection spread needlessly by humans!