Chapter 1: The Rediscovery of Wollemi Pines

Once believed to have vanished alongside the dinosaurs, the Wollemi Pines are now being carefully cultivated back from the brink of extinction.

This extraordinary botanical discovery has been termed the find of the century: a solitary grove of conifers, the last of their kind, was thought to be lost to time until three hikers stumbled upon them on a sunny winter day. Nestled in a deep, inaccessible gorge in Australia's Wollemi National Park, these 23 peculiar pines reach heights of up to 40 meters and belong to a lineage that once flourished across the southern supercontinent of Gondwana.

These trees, now referred to as Wollemi Pines, were believed to have vanished long before humans inhabited the Earth—until David Noble and his companions discovered them. "They appeared quite unusual," Noble remarked. "I took a cutting to identify it back home."

At his residence in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, Noble's attempts to match the sample with known species were futile. He eventually presented it to Wyn Jones, a fellow botanist at the National Parks and Wildlife Service. "Initially, I thought it was just a fern," Jones recalled of that August morning in 1994. "Then Noble said, 'It's a massive tree!'. I was taken aback."

A month later, the duo retraced Noble's path to collect additional specimens. This was a daunting task: Wollemi National Park spans 496,000 hectares of sandstone, covered with eucalyptus woodlands and patches of rainforest, interspersed with steep canyons.

To reach their destination, the team had to rappel 400 meters down a steep gorge in stages and navigate through dense undergrowth along a creek. Upon arrival, Jones recognized that he had previously surveyed the area from above five years earlier, coming dangerously close to the pines without realizing their presence. Up close, the trees revealed their striking characteristics.

Their trunks were covered in peculiar nodules, giving the bark a bubbly chocolate-like appearance. The tallest tree boasted a single trunk about a meter wide, while many featured multiple trunks sprouting from their base. The trees exhibited a distinctive branching pattern, with whorls of primary branches emerging from the trunks. The leaves, reminiscent of ferns, varied in color; mature trees had stiff, yellowish-green leaves, while juvenile ones displayed dark green, waxy undersides.

What astonished botanists was the existence of these prehistoric giants within 150 kilometers of Sydney, Australia’s largest city, in a country with a robust scientific community and a rich history of botanical study. The discovery of a new genus of pine so close to a metropolitan area of four million people is a reminder of the mysteries that still exist in our natural world. "This illustrates that our understanding of the environment is far from complete," noted Don Blaxell, senior assistant director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, which has conducted most of the research on this new genus.

The Wollemi pine, scientifically named Wollemia nobilis—partly in honor of Noble and partly due to its grandeur—proves to be both remarkably unique and strikingly ordinary. As a conifer, it belongs to a group of seed-bearing trees that originated over 300 million years ago during the Carboniferous era. It is part of the ancient conifer family Araucariaceae, previously thought to consist only of two surviving genera: Araucaria and Agathis. The new genus appears to occupy a niche between these two.

Evidence of its age has been uncovered in fossils housed at the Australian Museum in Sydney. A fossilized plant species, Agathis jurassica, with foliage nearly identical to that of living Wollemi, was described in 1981 from a fossil site in Talbragar, New South Wales. Additionally, scientists successfully matched the living plant's pollen with various fossilized pollens prevalent during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

The video "7 Extinct Animals That Could Actually Come Back" explores the fascinating potential for species revival, paralleling the Wollemi Pines' remarkable journey.

Chapter 2: The Enigmatic Survival of Wollemi Pines

The Araucariaceae family first emerged in the fossil record during the Triassic period, around 250 million years ago—just as the Wollemi National Park's sandstone massif began to form. This family thrived globally between 200 and 65 million years ago, during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, before it began to decline dramatically at the end of the Cretaceous, coinciding with the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Despite this decline, the family remained vital to the forests of the vast southern supercontinent Gondwana until approximately 30 million years ago, when the rise of flowering plants began to overshadow them. The fossil record, however, contains no evidence of Wollemi pines. The closest match discovered is fossilized pollen known as Dilwynites, which was considered part of the Araucariaceae family, but its exact genus remained a subject of debate. This pollen was abundant in the fossil records of Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica from around 94 million years ago until the middle of the Tertiary period.

After Australia separated from Gondwana and drifted northward 30 million years ago, the range and diversity of the family diminished significantly due to drastic climatic changes. The last known occurrence of this pollen, dated at two million years ago, was discovered through oil drilling between northern Tasmania and the Australian mainland. After this point, the fossil record fell silent, and the assumption was that the genus to which Wollemi pines belong had been extinct for millions of years.

The question remains: how did this solitary grove of trees persist? Botanists have scoured the park for more Wollemi pines since their discovery, but in three years, they uncovered only one additional stand of 17 trees located a kilometer upstream from the original site. The exact location of the gorge is kept secret to protect these rare trees. If they once flourished across the continent, why have they survived in this isolated rainforest enclave?

"It's puzzling," says Brett Summerell, a plant pathologist at the Royal Botanic Gardens. "We have no real understanding of their presence in this specific gorge, as there are many similar gorges nearby with comparable conditions."

Summerell speculates that the Wollemi pine may never have been widespread, possibly adapting to a specific ecological niche in Australia's eastern rainforests. Such a limited distribution would increase the chances of isolation over time.

Genetic studies led by ecological geneticist Rod Peakall at the Australian National University have aimed to uncover the duration of this isolation. By analyzing genetic markers in the trees, Peakall's team discovered a surprising lack of variation among the samples. This indicates a long-standing isolated population or the possibility that these trees are clones of a single remnant organism, propagating through a process called coppicing.

The video "5 Animals That Scientists Are Trying to Bring Back From Extinction" complements the theme of revival and conservation, which is vital for the future of Wollemi Pines.

The cloning mechanism raises questions about the age of these trees. While some groups of stems appear to belong to a single individual, the unique lack of genetic diversity suggests a long history of isolation. Peakall estimates that the Wollemi pines have been isolated for somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 years, but the exact duration remains a mystery.

Despite concerns regarding their reproductive viability, botanists have successfully cultivated thousands of Wollemi seedlings from seeds. The ease of propagation suggests that sexual reproduction is functioning properly, yet the trees continue to clone themselves. This clonal nature is crucial for their survival, as any introduced disease could threaten the entire population.

Protective measures have been implemented in New South Wales, including a comprehensive recovery plan. Research is ongoing to determine the optimal conditions for growth, including soil acidity, fertilizers, and light exposure. The program has been successful enough that the production of Wollemi seedlings has been handed over to private horticultural companies for international distribution.

"Part of our conservation strategy is to promote wider availability of the Wollemi," explains Blaxell. "This not only generates revenue for research but also helps safeguard the original site from potential threats."

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies the Wollemi pine as 'critically endangered', yet since its rediscovery, it has undergone a remarkable ecological recovery, with successful plantings in botanic gardens both in Australia and around the globe. Visitors to Sydney can see these living relics at the city's three Botanic Gardens or at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, where some of the healthiest specimens thrive.

After millennia of teetering on the edge of extinction, the Wollemi Pines now seem to have a promising future ahead.