‘Dinosaur tree’ or ‘living fossil’, the Wollemi Pine is certainly one of the greatest botanical discoveries of our time.
In September 1994, modern day explorer David Noble, an officer with the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service, discovered some trees he didn’t quite recognise. In a deep, narrow canyon of the rugged Wollemi National Park, he discovered what we now call Wollemia nobilis or the Wollemi Pine.
The dramatic discovery of an evolutionary line thought to be long extinct is even more remarkable with these tall and striking trees growing in a largely undisturbed wilderness area only 150 km from Sydney, the largest city in Australia.