Wollemi Pine
Encyclopedia
Wollemia is a genus of coniferous
tree
in the family Araucariaceae
. Wollemia was only known through fossil records until the Australia
n species Wollemia nobilis was discovered in 1994 in a temperate rainforest
wilderness area of the Wollemi National Park
in New South Wales
, in a remote series of narrow, steep-sided sandstone gorges near Lithgow, 150 kilometres north-west of Sydney
.
In both botanical and popular literature the tree has been almost universally dubbed the Wollemi Pine, although it is not a true pine (genus Pinus) nor a member of the pine family (Pinaceae
), but rather is related to Agathis
and Araucaria
in the family Araucariaceae
. The oldest fossil of the Wollemi tree has been dated to 200 million years ago.
The Wollemi pine is classified as Critically Endangered
(CR - D) on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List
2002, and is legally protected in Australia. A Recovery Plan has been drawn up, outlining strategies for the management of this fragile population; the overall objective is to ensure that this species remains viable in the long-term.
Wollemia nobilis is an evergreen
tree
reaching 25–40 m (80–130 feet) tall. The bark
is very distinctive, dark brown and knobbly, quoted as resembling Coco Pops breakfast cereal. The tree coppices readily, and most specimens are multi-trunked or appear as clumps of trunks thought to derive from old coppice growth, with some consisting of up to 100 stems of differing sizes. The branching is unique in that nearly all the side branches never have further branching. After a few years, each branch either terminates in a cone
(either male or female) or ceases growth. After this, or when the cone becomes mature, the branch
dies. New branches then arise from dormant buds on the main trunk. Rarely, a side branch will turn erect and develop into a secondary trunk, which then bears a new set of side branches.
The leaves
are flat linear, 3–8 cm long and 2–5 mm broad. They are arranged spirally on the shoot but twisted at the base to appear in two or four flattened ranks. As the leaves mature, they develop from bright lime-green to a more yellowish-green. The seed cones are green, 6–12 cm long and 5–10 cm in diameter, and mature about 18–20 months after wind pollination. They disintegrate at maturity to release the seed
s which are small and brown, thin and papery with a wing around the edge to aid wind-dispersal. The male (pollen
) cones are slender conic, 5–11 cm long and 1–2 cm broad and reddish-brown in colour and are lower on the tree than the seed cones. Seedlings appear to be slow-growing and mature trees are extremely long-lived; some of the older individuals today are estimated to be between 500 and 1000 years old.
, a field officer of the Wollemi National Park in Wentworth Falls, in the Blue Mountains, only occurred because of his adventurous bushwalking and rock climbing abilities. Noble had good botanical knowledge, and quickly recognised the trees as unusual and worthy of further investigation. Returning with specimens, and expecting someone to be able to identify the plants, Noble soon found that they were new to science. The species was subsequently named after him. Further study would be needed to establish its relationship to other conifers. The initial suspicion was that it had certain characteristics of the 200-million-year-old family Araucariaceae
, but was not similar to any living species in the family. Comparison with living and fossil
ised Araucariaceae proved that it was a member of that family, and it has been placed into a new genus with Agathis
and Araucaria
. Fossils resembling Wollemia that are possibly related to it are widespread in Australia, New Zealand
and Antarctica, but Wollemia nobilis is the sole living member of its genus. The last known fossils of the genus date from approximately 2 million years ago. 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. It is very difficult to count them as most trees are multistemmed and may have a connected root system. Genetic testing has revealed that all the specimens are genetically indistinguishable, suggesting that the species has been through a genetic bottleneck
in which its population became so low (possibly just one or two individuals) that all genetic variability was lost.
In November 2005, wild-growing trees were found to be infected with Phytophthora cinnamomi
. New South Wales park rangers believe the virulent water mould
was introduced by unauthorised visitors to the site, whose location is still undisclosed to the public.
A propagation programme made Wollemi Pine specimens available to botanical gardens, first in Australia in 2006 and subsequently throughout the world. It may prove to be a valuable tree for ornament, either planted in open ground or for tubs and planters. In Australia, potted native Wollemi Pines have been promoted as a Christmas tree. It is also proving to be more adaptable and cold-hardy than its restricted temperate
-subtropical, humid distribution would suggest, tolerating temperatures between -5°C and 45°C (23° and 113°F), with reports, from Japan and the USA, that it can survive down to -12°C (10°F). A grove of Wollemi Pines planted in Inverewe Garden
, Scotland, believed to be the most northerly location of any successful planting, have survived temperatures of -7°C, recorded in January 2010. It also handles both full sun and full shade. Like many other Australian trees, Wollemia is susceptible to the pathogenic water mould Phytophthora cinnamomi, so this may limit its potential as a timber
tree.
Pinophyta
The conifers, division Pinophyta, also known as division Coniferophyta or Coniferae, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxa within the Kingdom Plantae. Pinophytes are gymnosperms. They are cone-bearing seed plants with vascular tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority being...
tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
in the family Araucariaceae
Araucariaceae
Araucariaceae, commonly referred to as araucarians, is a very ancient family of coniferous trees. It achieved its maximum diversity in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, when it was distributed almost worldwide...
. Wollemia was only known through fossil records until the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n species Wollemia nobilis was discovered in 1994 in a temperate rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
wilderness area of the Wollemi National Park
Wollemi National Park
Wollemi National Park is the second largest national park in New South Wales, and contains most of the largest wilderness area, the Wollemi Wilderness...
in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, in a remote series of narrow, steep-sided sandstone gorges near Lithgow, 150 kilometres north-west of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
.
In both botanical and popular literature the tree has been almost universally dubbed the Wollemi Pine, although it is not a true pine (genus Pinus) nor a member of the pine family (Pinaceae
Pinaceae
Pinaceae are trees or shrubs, including many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as cedars, firs, hemlocks, larches, pines and spruces. The family is included in the order Pinales, formerly known as Coniferales. Pinaceae are supported as monophyletic by its protein-type sieve...
), but rather is related to Agathis
Agathis
The genus Agathis, commonly known as kauri or dammar, is a relatively small genus of 21 species of evergreen tree. The genus is part of the ancient Araucariaceae family of conifers, a group once widespread during the Jurassic period, but now largely restricted to the Southern Hemisphere except for...
and Araucaria
Araucaria
Araucaria is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae. There are 19 extant species in the genus, with a highly disjunct distribution in New Caledonia , Norfolk Island, eastern Australia, New Guinea, Argentina, Chile, and southern Brazil.-Description:Araucaria are mainly...
in the family Araucariaceae
Araucariaceae
Araucariaceae, commonly referred to as araucarians, is a very ancient family of coniferous trees. It achieved its maximum diversity in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, when it was distributed almost worldwide...
. The oldest fossil of the Wollemi tree has been dated to 200 million years ago.
The Wollemi pine is classified as Critically Endangered
Critically Endangered
Critically Endangered is the highest risk category assigned by the IUCN Red List for wild species. Critically Endangered means that a species' numbers have decreased, or will decrease, by 80% within three generations....
(CR - D) on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List
IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
2002, and is legally protected in Australia. A Recovery Plan has been drawn up, outlining strategies for the management of this fragile population; the overall objective is to ensure that this species remains viable in the long-term.
Description
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
reaching 25–40 m (80–130 feet) tall. The bark
Bark
Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...
is very distinctive, dark brown and knobbly, quoted as resembling Coco Pops breakfast cereal. The tree coppices readily, and most specimens are multi-trunked or appear as clumps of trunks thought to derive from old coppice growth, with some consisting of up to 100 stems of differing sizes. The branching is unique in that nearly all the side branches never have further branching. After a few years, each branch either terminates in a cone
Conifer cone
A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the reproductive structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds. The male cones, which produce pollen, are usually herbaceous and much less conspicuous even at full maturity...
(either male or female) or ceases growth. After this, or when the cone becomes mature, the branch
Branch
A branch or tree branch is a woody structural member connected to but not part of the central trunk of a tree...
dies. New branches then arise from dormant buds on the main trunk. Rarely, a side branch will turn erect and develop into a secondary trunk, which then bears a new set of side branches.
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
are flat linear, 3–8 cm long and 2–5 mm broad. They are arranged spirally on the shoot but twisted at the base to appear in two or four flattened ranks. As the leaves mature, they develop from bright lime-green to a more yellowish-green. The seed cones are green, 6–12 cm long and 5–10 cm in diameter, and mature about 18–20 months after wind pollination. They disintegrate at maturity to release the seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s which are small and brown, thin and papery with a wing around the edge to aid wind-dispersal. The male (pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
) cones are slender conic, 5–11 cm long and 1–2 cm broad and reddish-brown in colour and are lower on the tree than the seed cones. Seedlings appear to be slow-growing and mature trees are extremely long-lived; some of the older individuals today are estimated to be between 500 and 1000 years old.
Discovery
The discovery, on or about 10 September 1994, by David NobleDavid Noble (canyoner)
David 'Dave' Noble discovered the Wollemi Pine on 10 September 1994.John and Olive Noble, David's parents, emigrated from England to Australia when he was two years old....
, a field officer of the Wollemi National Park in Wentworth Falls, in the Blue Mountains, only occurred because of his adventurous bushwalking and rock climbing abilities. Noble had good botanical knowledge, and quickly recognised the trees as unusual and worthy of further investigation. Returning with specimens, and expecting someone to be able to identify the plants, Noble soon found that they were new to science. The species was subsequently named after him. Further study would be needed to establish its relationship to other conifers. The initial suspicion was that it had certain characteristics of the 200-million-year-old family Araucariaceae
Araucariaceae
Araucariaceae, commonly referred to as araucarians, is a very ancient family of coniferous trees. It achieved its maximum diversity in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, when it was distributed almost worldwide...
, but was not similar to any living species in the family. Comparison with living and fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
ised Araucariaceae proved that it was a member of that family, and it has been placed into a new genus with Agathis
Agathis
The genus Agathis, commonly known as kauri or dammar, is a relatively small genus of 21 species of evergreen tree. The genus is part of the ancient Araucariaceae family of conifers, a group once widespread during the Jurassic period, but now largely restricted to the Southern Hemisphere except for...
and Araucaria
Araucaria
Araucaria is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae. There are 19 extant species in the genus, with a highly disjunct distribution in New Caledonia , Norfolk Island, eastern Australia, New Guinea, Argentina, Chile, and southern Brazil.-Description:Araucaria are mainly...
. Fossils resembling Wollemia that are possibly related to it are widespread in Australia, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and Antarctica, but Wollemia nobilis is the sole living member of its genus. The last known fossils of the genus date from approximately 2 million years ago. It is thus described as a living fossil, or alternatively, a Lazarus taxon
Lazarus taxon
In paleontology, a Lazarus taxon is a taxon that disappears from one or more periods of the fossil record, only to appear again later. The term refers to the account in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead...
.
Fewer than a hundred trees are known to be growing wild, in three localities not far apart. It is very difficult to count them as most trees are multistemmed and may have a connected root system. Genetic testing has revealed that all the specimens are genetically indistinguishable, suggesting that the species has been through a genetic bottleneck
Population bottleneck
A population bottleneck is an evolutionary event in which a significant percentage of a population or species is killed or otherwise prevented from reproducing....
in which its population became so low (possibly just one or two individuals) that all genetic variability was lost.
In November 2005, wild-growing trees were found to be infected with Phytophthora cinnamomi
Phytophthora cinnamomi
Phytophthora cinnamomi is a soil-borne water mould that produces an infection which causes a condition in plants called root rot or dieback. The plant pathogen is one of the world's most invasive species and is present in over 70 countries from around the world.- Life cycle and effects on plants :P...
. New South Wales park rangers believe the virulent water mould
Water mould
Oömycota or oömycetes form a distinct phylogenetic lineage of fungus-like eukaryotic microorganisms . They are filamentous, microscopic, absorptive organisms that reproduce both sexually and asexually...
was introduced by unauthorised visitors to the site, whose location is still undisclosed to the public.
Cultivation and uses
Temperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
-subtropical, humid distribution would suggest, tolerating temperatures between -5°C and 45°C (23° and 113°F), with reports, from Japan and the USA, that it can survive down to -12°C (10°F). A grove of Wollemi Pines planted in Inverewe Garden
Inverewe Garden
Inverewe Garden is a botanical garden in the Scottish Highlands. It is located just to the north of Poolewe in Wester Ross.The garden was created in 1862 by Osgood Mackenzie on the estate bought for him by his mother. The original Inverewe Lodge was destroyed by fire in 1914 and replaced in 1937...
, Scotland, believed to be the most northerly location of any successful planting, have survived temperatures of -7°C, recorded in January 2010. It also handles both full sun and full shade. Like many other Australian trees, Wollemia is susceptible to the pathogenic water mould Phytophthora cinnamomi, so this may limit its potential as a timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
tree.