Wollemi pine

Wollemi pine, (Wollemia nobilis), rare evergreen coniferous tree, the only member of its genus. Wollemi pine was found in 1994 growing in a remote canyon in Wollemi National Park, about 200 km (120 miles) northwest of Sydney. This remarkable tree escaped discovery by earlier botanists in part because the only canyon system in which trees grow is bounded by tall sandstone cliffs, and access to the plants requires use of a helicopter or climbing gear. Fewer than 100 adult trees and a few hundred seedlings presently survive in the canyon’s moist sheltered microclimate; their location is kept secret to avoid the introduction of pathogens. The trees were threatened by a bushfire that burned most of Wollemi National Park during the devastating 2019–20 fire season, but a desperate military-style firefighting operation managed to protect the species from possible extinction. The species is listed as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, though a number are cultivated in botanic gardens and private collections around the world.