Wollemi Pine

Wollemia nobilis

“Discovered alive in 1994. Was known only from fossils. You can grow one.”

In September 1994, a park ranger abseiled into a hidden canyon in the Blue Mountains of Australia and found trees nobody had seen in 200 million years. The entire wild population is fewer than 100 trees — location still classified. But the species is now propagated and available. Unusual bubbly bark, dense whorled branching, grows Zone 7–10. Owning one is owning a piece of deep time. The dinosaurs knew this tree.