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Until the extraordinary discovery in 1994. the tree now known as the Wollemi pine – Wollemia nobilis – was known only to paleontologists as a group of plants thought to have been extinct since the time of the dinosaurs. When Australian explorer and botanist David Noble discovered a small number of trees growing in a remote gorge in Wollemi National Park in New South Wales, it was the remarkable first non-fossil living evidence of this unique conifer. ended more than 70 million years ago.

This so-called “dinosaur tree” is now classified as Critically Endangered included in the IUCN Red List of threatened plant and animal species.

Since its discovery, every effort has been made to protect the species from the loss of the remaining wild trees. Fewer than 100 remain, growing 150 kilometers from Sydney, and they are increasingly vulnerable to disease and wildfire hazards. 2019-2020 they narrowly escaped destruction in the bushfires that burned more than 10 million hectares of land in eastern Australia.

Wollemi pines have been grown in private gardens and parks since 2005, but recent advances in genetic techniques have enabled Australian plant science and conservation experts to identify and breed plants that can better represent the remaining genetic diversity of Wollemi pines in the wild and protect them from extinction.

More than 170 young trees are supplied Sydney Botanic Gardens have now been distributed to 28 botanical gardens across Europe English Forestry Nursery at Bedgebury in the UK, as well as five botanic gardens in Australia and one in the US. Together, this will form a “meta-collection”: a set of collections, each shared by separate organizations, but created collaboratively to study and conserve species for the future.

University Museum Bergen University Gardens we are proud to be a part of this international effort.

Michael Pirie, curator of the University Gardens Arboretum on October 31. officially planted six Bedgebury trees, and the corresponding six plants were already under the care of UiB gardeners. He says:

Such an initiative, internationally coordinated among institutions with specialized knowledge and resources, is necessary to prevent plant extinction. Due to habitat destruction, invasive species and climate change, the global biodiversity situation is dire. As botanic gardens and research institutes, we can support the conservation of species in their natural habitats and, where necessary, provide safe havens for species that preserve the opportunity to re-enter the wild.

University Gardens is also active in global conservation consortia focusing on endangered species Rhododendronand from Ericain cooperation with International Organization for the Protection of Botanical Gardensand national initiatives on endangered species in Norway.

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