Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden, South Africa

Common name: Wollemi pine

Family: Araucariaceae (Araucaria)

Distribution: Australia

IUCN Red list: Critically endangered

Comments: The genus Wollemia was first described in 1995 following the discovery of a small group of conifers in a remote gorge in Wollemi National Park in 1994. To date only one species is known - Wollemia nobilis. The pollen from Wollemia is virtually indistinguishable from the fossil pollen assigned to the fossil genus Dilwynites which has a fossil record that dates back to the Turonian stage of the Cretaceous period, some 90 million years ago. This indicates that the genus, rather than the extant species, has a very long fossil record.