Episode: Five
Date: 5th April 2008
Presenter:  Nigel Ruck
Story Title: Prehistoric Plants

Nigel visits a fortifying garden in Sydney called Mt Annan Botanic Gardens. This unique garden specializes in showcasing older and historic plants. One being the Wollemi Pine which was only known through fossils and thought to be extinct until it was discovered in the blue mountain ranges near Sydney in 1994. Other varieties such as the Conifers and Cycads date all the way back to the Triassic period 250 million years ago!

Featured Plant- Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis)
The Wollemi Pine was discovered in 1994 and is a conifer genus, endemic to a very restricted area in the blue mountains of southeastern Australia. It is one of the world’s rarest plants with only 20 or so adult trees surviving in the deep, moist sandstone canyon, it is considered a living fossil. It is slender, columnar and grows to approximately 35 meters tall. Propagation has been effected from both seed and cuttings.