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Wednesday, May 11, 2005

International

International

Jurassic tree enthuses botanists

Tim Radford

A botanist examines a Wollemi Pine. — PHOTO: AP

LONDON: British botanists are about to toast the tree that came back from the dead. The Wollemi pine flourished in the Jurassic era 200 million years ago, and faded with the changing world, to be found only in fossil formations. It was thought extinct for at least the last 2 million years.

On Tuesday, the actor Kenneth Branagh will plant a Wollemi pine at Wakehurst Place, West Sussex, southeast England. One of the world's rarest trees is about to start re-colonising the globe.

The Wollemi pine can grow — up to 40 metres high and in fact, a conifer, not a pine — was discovered by accident by David Noble, a National Parks officer, in a gorge in the Blue Mountains of Australia in 1994. Later, astonished experts confirmed that he had stumbled across a new genus with a very ancient lineage: a sample of Jurassic bark. They named it after him, and went looking for more specimens.

Unusual tree

Fewer than 100 mature trees had survived the break-up of ancient continents, the disappearance of the dinosaurs, and dramatic changes in climate, to cling to survival in one tiny, secret corner of the world. ``This is a very unusual tree,'' said Sir Peter Crane, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. ``In that family, the Auraucariaceae, the monkey puzzle family, there are only two different genera, and this one is a third. So it is quite different, and at quite a high level. It really does appear to be a characteristic Australian living fossil, which is fantastic.''

The tree flourished in Jurassic conditions, long before the appearance of modern mammals. Dinosaurs must have foraged in its leaves, pterosaurs taken flight from its branches.

Its home would have been part of a vast supercontinent called Gondwana, that later splintered into Africa, Australia, South America, India and Antarctica. It survived a complete reshuffle of the world's landscape and 17 ice ages.

``It would have survived huge changes in climate, first the Cretaceous warmth. There were no glaciers at the poles in those days. And then, a gradually deteriorating climate,'' said Sir Peter. ``It is the ultimate survivor.''

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

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