The presentation of the Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis), a gift from the Australian branch of the World Wildlife Fund and one of the most ancient plants on earth, was recently held at the Ukrainian National Hryshko Botanical Garden.
What would you do if you bumped into a live dinosaur in the woods? Believe it or not, such a dinosaur was found 12 years ago — in the field of botany. The Wollemi pine, a member of the Araucaria family, is the most ancient and rarest species of all time. It may be traced back to 200 million years ago, when dinosaurs walked the earth. The plant was accidentally discovered in August 1994 by David Noble in a deep gorge in the Blue Mountains of Wollemi National Park, located west of Sydney, Australia. More of these plants were later found in two other gorges.
Wollemi is an Aboriginal word meaning, “look around you, keep your eyes open, and watch out.” The scientific name Wollemia nobilis is a reflection of the pine’s majestic qualities and honors David Noble, the discoverer of these trees.
This find is considered the most important botanical discovery of the 20th century. Scientists believe that these trees are older than Gondwana, a prehistoric supercontinent that existed before Australia broke off from Antarctica and began its movement north.
Just a few years ago this plant was presumed extinct, and was only known to botanists through its appearance in fossils dating back 91 million years. It purportedly disappeared around two million years ago. After several years of research, some well-known botanists presented the historical background of this discovery. To ensure the plant’s survival, an experiment was carried out to grow a limited number of trees. The grown samples were exhibited in the most famous botanical gardens in the world.
The Wollemi pine is a majestic conifer that grows up to 40 meters high in the wild, with a trunk diameter of over one meter. It has unusual pendulous foliage and a unique branching pattern. Its bark is distinct even from related species, and resembles bubbling chocolate. Like other related species, the Wollemi pine is bisexual, with male and female cones.
The oldest and largest Wollemi pine is the “Bill Tree” whose trunk and root system are about 400 and over 1,000 years old, respectively. The tree is 40 meters high, and its trunk is more than a meter in diameter. In the Australian environment the plant grows at a temperature ranging between -10 to +45 degrees. It can survive even at lower temperatures. Under optimal climatic conditions, with sufficient light and acidic soil, this tree can grow to a height of 30 meters, not more than 1 m a year. Since it is dangerous to gather seeds 40 meters above the ground and owing to the fact that the Wollemi pine faces extinction or damage, these conifers only reproduce themselves vegetatively. There are about 100 adult trees in the wild.
Since the Stone Age these pines have grown on moist ledges in a deep rainforest gorge surrounded by rugged mountains and undisturbed forest. The exact location of the pines is a closely guarded secret because of the pristine and fragile nature of the wilderness habitat. National Wollemi Park enforces strict rules to guard this valuable species. Only select researchers are permitted to visit the area on rare occasions, and a conservation strategy has been mapped out.
The first artificially-grown plants were auctioned off at Sotheby’s on Oct. 23, 2005, at the final price of 962,000 Australian dollars. Sales to Europe began in the spring of 2006.
This plant has been displayed in the most famous botanical gardens of Australia, the US, and Europe, where it always sparks great public interest. These exhibits have promoted scientific knowledge about rare plants and drawn more public attention to the problems of environmental protection. At last, this precious tree has arrived at the Ukrainian National Hryshko Botanical Garden, a favorite destination of residents and visitors to Kyiv. The gift is indicative of the growing cooperation between Ukraine’s leading botanical garden and its foreign counterparts. Such cooperation is becoming increasingly important in the conditions of globalization, flora conservation, and environmental protection.
In order to replenish our botanical garden’s flora collection from the gardens and parks of other continents, continue public outreach efforts in environmental conservation and protection, and raise the level of ecological and botanical culture in our society, activists from the All-Ukrainian UN Assistance Association have suggested that this institution be made part of the UN park complex in Kyiv. The Council for Botanical Gardens and Parks of Ukraine supports this proposal. The first step toward establishing the UN park complex by administrative bodies, research institutions, and civic organizations was the laying of UN Alley in Kyiv on Oct. 24, 2005, on the 60th anniversary of the United Nations. In a letter to President Yushchenko, Jan Eliasson, the president of the 60th UN General Assembly expressed the hope that this project will promote dialogue and cooperation between Ukraine and the UN.
Tetiana Cherevchenko, director of the National Botanical Garden and a Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, believes that the garden will be able to preserve and reproduce this natural wonder.
“It is a great honor as well as a great responsibility for us,” Cherevchenko says, “because this plant is now living in totally unusual conditions. I still think we will have sufficient means, spirit, and knowledge to preserve and exhibit this tree. We are completing the construction of a complex that may be appropriate for dinosaurs, because we’ve been building it for nearly 20 years. But we have already commissioned half of this complex. It has a large section for camellias and azaleas. Our new plant will live in this section because, of all the existing conservatories, this one has a microclimate best suited to it.”
“We are eyewitnesses and participants in an outstanding event,” says Anton Naumovets, vice-president of Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences. “It is not often that people are destined to discover a new species in the wild, especially now, when we are hearing more and more that some species are vanishing. Unfortunately, much of the blame should be laid on people. On behalf of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, I would like to sincerely thank our Australian colleagues from the World Wildlife Fund, who have given us such a generous and gift fit for a king. We regard it as a great trust because there are many botanical gardens in the world, but not all can expect to receive such a precious gift.”
This Wollemi pine will soon have a companion in Ukraine. In a few weeks, the Australians will present a similar tree to President Yushchenko.
