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WOLLEMI PINE

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The Wollemi pine is one of the latest discoveries to join the ranks of “living fossils”. The evidence that the Wollemi pine has not evolved, but has reproduced after its kind, just as Genesis says comes from some fossil relatives of this “living dinosaur of the plant world”. They came from the famous fossil mass kill site in Australia, the Talbragar fish beds, which contain fossil plants (Auricaria) “so similar” to the living Wollemi pine, they are increasingly being regarded as direct ancestors.

CATASTROPHIC FOSSILS
These fossils contain catastrophically buried specimens of well preserved fossil plants and fishes. The orange, yellow and cream ironstone has preserved the structure of the fossils in fine detail. The site these fossils came from is now closed to the public, and material is only available from private collections made before the closure.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Wollemi pine was discovered in August 1994 and promoted as “being like finding a small dinosaur still alive on the earth”. Found by David Noble, a National Parks and Wildlife ranger, on a bushwalk in the rugged, densely forested Wollemi National Park, about 200 km (125 miles) northwest of downtown Sydney, the tree has been formally named Wollemia nobilis after the park and the discoverer.

Soon after its discovery it was noticed that the leaves and stems of the Wollemi pine are almost identical to a fossil auricarian pine Agathis, claimed to be 150 million years old. For this reason the Wollemi has been widely promoted by evolutionary scientists as “from the Dinosaur age a true living fossil unseen since the Jurassic”. It is also why the Australian company which has the exclusive propagation rights, uses this fossil in its advertising. (See photo, top right)