THE WOLLEMI PINE TREE This is not only one of the coolest trees we came across, but it dates back over 2 million years. These strange trees were first discovered in 1994 in the Blue Mountains of Australia. Tree experts say that this species of tree lived amongst the dinosaurs and it has been deemed a “living fossil”. Researchers have stressed the importance of keeping these trees around as they may unlock more information about our planet’s past.
Pennantia baylisiana
The tree species known only as Pennantia baylisiana could be the rarest plant on Earth. In fact, the Guinness Book of World Records once called it that. Just a single tree exists in the wild, on one of the Three Kings Islands off the coast of New Zealand, where it has sat, alone, since 1945. [Apr 20, 2010]
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/worlds-rarest-tree-gets-some-help/
“As a student at Kew Gardens in 2005, I was lucky enough to come across a specimen. A tiny sapling was planted in a neat circle cut out of the lawn surrounded by a metal cage to protect it from poachers. Indeed, in the early days that was a legal requirement for any of the specimens from this first batch of introductions. Looking strikingly similar to a monkey puzzle, but with soft ferny leaves instead of hard spikes and bubbled bark, I thought I’d be an old man before it took off. But boy was I wrong!
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Today the tree towers above me. It’s probably over 8m tall. Its metal cage gone, it has suckers and side branches all over the place. Shooting up at the rate of 1m a year it has already produced many crops of cones, meaning there is now a new generation of the plants grown from its seeds. Comparing this to my little monkey puzzle, which is a good half century off forming cones, and I can’t help but be seething with jealousy. So, if you love these ancient living fossils as much as I do, plant a Wollemi if you want to see it in your lifetime and a monkey puzzle if you want it for the next.”
Apparent;y you can still acquire a WOLLEMI PINE from select horticulturalists: