Newly rediscovered tree soon to be available

The Wollimia, thought to have been extinct 90 million years back was re-discovered in a remote part of Australia about 10 years ago. Thee were about 100 mature species, and their location was and still is a secret.

The Tree itself looks like a cross between a Monkeypuzzle and a Norfolk Island Pine, (Not truly a pine, but an auracania)and has a Dr Suess character about it. It truly is a relic from ancient times, and would be a splendid addition to any exotic garden. Subtropical locations would be perfect...most of the west coast.

Some from this species have hefty cones (equally edible) that typically drop in January in the Northern Hemisphere. Best to picnic then under a different tree.

http://www.wollemipine.com/

Is it already april first or is this the real deal. Can you kill me one so I can carve one?Oh wait, I guess we better not do that with it being a protected species and all that. Nice Find

Would you beleive that this was found within the mountain ranges that I can see outside my back window (where I am typing this right now). To give you an idea, my place is an hour from Sydney CBD - the largest city in Australia.

The pines are located within pretty harsh kinda bush, and was discovered by a group of canyoners. Its a few days hike into them. One of them thought the trees looked kinda cool and unique, and he hadn't seen any before. He took a sample back to botanist experts who confirmed that this species had never been documented. To this day only a handful of people know where they are.

To ensure the plants survival, they took samples and propogated them in nurseries in Sydney. They are gonna sell them commercially, which will prevent any people going into the location and getting their own samples to propogate. Very cool indeed. I know people who are mates with the people who found them. Its a pretty amazing story.

i remember my about 10 or 12 years ago a regular at the fishing tackle store i worked at used to hike up into the wollemi to fish for bass, he would be away for a week at a time and would always come back and tell us about these weired trees up there he had never seen them antwhere else, ( he was a scout master & really into all that botany stuff so I guess he should know).
pretty cool to know what they are.

cheers
Bob

Wow, great story. I love it when things like that are discovered. Hopefully they will keep the location a secret. Sounds like a really cool place. You guys have all the good stuff.

It would be cool if they found a thylacine (sp) too, which I suppose could happen...any you guys got a Marsupial Coyote that rides in your Holden with you?

I will be attempting to get one of the Woolimias, maybe more if they are not too pricey.

It will be awhile however before I can score lumber from it...sorry Ben. (Maybe some Osage Orange in a few years tho)

Cool when new species are discovered.

Unfortunatly it seems the ivory billed woodpecker may be extinct after all. An article in the paper cast doubt on its existence. I believe it may be true since with all th people looking they should have hard evidence by now.

But alas last week a deep sea submersible located a new family (remember Kings play chess ....... Not species or genus but a single spcies family of a snail like creature.

On 2006-03-18 19:02, Benzart wrote:
Can you kill me one so I can carve one?

Mmmmm...Hairy Lobster anyone?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4785482.stm