#1 Wollemia nobilis

Common name: Wollemia pine

Plant family: Araucariaceae

Location: On the little patch of lawn between the parking lot and the Botanical Center

Notes: Wollemia is an extremely rare conifer that was discovered only two decades ago in a deep, narrow, and remote gorge near Sydney, Australia, in 1994. It is not a pine, but a member of the Araucariaceae, a sister genus to Araucaria and Agathis. However, Wollemia nobilis is the last surviving genus and species of its kind that lives on earth today. The oldest fossils of Wollemia first appear in the Cretaceous, about 100 million years ago. Plant-eating dinosaurs living in what is today Australia and New Zealand may have enjoyed munching on its leaves.