The Wollemi Pine is a distinctive, exceedingly long-lived, cone-bearing tree that grows to 40 m in height. This species is often multi-stemmed and has a diameter of up to 1.2 m at breast height. Bark is thin, fragile and densely covered with dark brown soft, spongy nodules or tubercles, looking similar to ‘chocolate crackles’, ‘rabbit faeces’ or ‘black popcorn’. The crown is slender and column-like. Branches are arranged in successive whorls from the main stem. The side branches terminate in a cone.
The leaves on leading shoots are arranged in 5-8 spiral rows, are narrow-triangular, 3-10 mm long, keeled, acute and are pungent. The leaves on juvenile lateral shoots are spirally distichous, linear to narrow-triangular, leathery, rounded or obtuse, upper surface deep green, lower surface glaucous, 2-8 cm long and 2-5 mm wide. The leaves on adult lateral shoots are arranged in four regular vertical rows, narrow-oblong, leathery, rounded, dull pale to mid-green, 1-4 cm long and 4-8 mm wide. Male cones grow to 10.9 cm long and are 19 mm in diameter. Female cones grow to 5-8 cm long in diameter. Seeds are pale brown and 4-6 mm wide, including the wing.
Wollemi Pine |
Wollemia nobilis
Status: Critically Endangered on the EPBC Act list
Government evidence of impact of climate change:
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Australian Government, Conservation Advice, Wollemia nobilis
Threats NSW Scientific Committee (2015) state that While fire severity and frequency are considered to be factors in the historical decline of the Araucariaceae (including Wollemia); W. nobilis occurs in areas that periodically burn and virtually all mature individuals show extensive fire scarring.
An increase in fire frequency or fires of a severity that scorch all above ground stems is likely to be detrimental to the species.
This requires consideration of all components of the fire regime and adherence to any fire frequency thresholds developed in the NSW Rural Fire Service Bush Fire Code Threatened Species Hazard Reduction list for plants. http www.rfs.nsw.gov.au data assets pdf file 0017 24335 ThreatenedSpeciesHazardRed uctionList Part1 Plants.pdf Continue experimental testing of the impact of low severity fires on juvenile plants and associated rainforest taxa to see if wild plants can resprout after low severity fire (as was found in experimental studies in potted plants; Zimmer et al. 2015b).
While fire severity and frequency are considered to be factors in the historical decline of the Araucariaceae (including Wollemia); W. nobilis occurs in areas that periodically burn and virtually all mature individuals show extensive fire scarring.
An increase in fire frequency or fires of a severity that scorch all above ground stems is likely to be detrimental to the species.
It is possible that the impact of Phytophthora cinnamomi may be quite sudden and triggered by drought or heat stress of infected plants; and hence prone to the effects of human activities or stochastic events within a very short time period in an uncertain future; and is this capable of becoming Critically Endangered or even extinct on a very short time period (IUCN 2001).
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