Description
Wollemia nobilis, Including Certificate
This is a species of plant only discovered in 1994 in Australia. It is the only species of the monotypic genus Wollemia of the Araucariaceae family. This fascinating plant was previously known only from fossils millions of years old and therefore was considered extinct!
The epithet 'nobilis' was chosen in honor of its discoverer, David Noble, who discovered around 23 trees and a few young plants about 250 km (175 miles) west of Sydney in the Wollemi National Park in September 1994. This evergreen tree attains a height of up to 40m (120 feet). Male and female cones grow on the same tree, and are always found at the end of a side branch. After the seeds are ripe, not only the cone, but the whole branch drops from the tree. In the initial years after the discovery of the species specimens were very rare in culture, and it was a newsworthy event if a botanical garden could plant a Wollemia.
This changed in October 2005, when 292 offspring were publicly auctioned at Sotheby's in Sydney. The auction of the plant achieved a turnover of 1.5 million U.S. dollars. Since May 16, 2006, plants have been available to European retailers.