Wollemia

plants · living fossils · endangered · Australia

Prehistoric living fossil. Wollemia nobilis is called the Wollemi pine, and it's a type of conifer tree that scientists thought had died out millions of years ago until explorers discovered it still growing in 1994.

Hidden in gorges. The trees were growing in a secret, hard-to-reach area with steep sandstone gorges about 93 miles northwest of Sydney in Wollemi National Park in Australia.

Super rare family. There are only three living types of trees in the Araucariaceae family alive today, and Wollemia is one of them, making it extremely special and uncommon.

Named after discovery spot. The whole genus of trees is named after Wollemi National Park, the rainforest wilderness where it was rediscovered after being hidden from the world for so long.