Australia's Wild Wollemi Pines Threatened by Disease

Wollemi pines were thought to be long extinct until a park ranger discovered two small groves of the trees in 1994. Fewer than a hundred trees were found. Researchers have kept the location of the wild population secret. Although the scientists have been very careful not to introduce pathogens, an infection of Phytophthora cinnamomi, believed to have been brought in by a hiker, has recently been discovered in the groves. Although propagations of the trees now grow in gardens around the world, the wild groves are important to research and prized for their extreme rarity and remarkable survival.

Link:
Disease hits Australia’s ‘dinosaur’ trees from Aljazeera

For background see this earlier weblog entry: Auction of Jurassic Trees Brings in Over a Million Dollars

Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 12:44 PM on March 22, 2006

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