NSW: Ancient trees reveal Australia once wetter, botanist says
Copyright 2000 AAP NEWSFEED
December 15, 2000
By Aarti Betigeri
SYDNEY, Dec 15 AAP - A prehistoric tree species found in northern New South Wales demonstrated that Australia was once a cool, wet continent, according to a local botanist.
It took 12 years's research for Robert Kooyman to discover the newly christened Nightcap Oak in the Nightcap Range, near Byron Bay.
Mr Kooyman, a PHD student, said the group of 20 mature trees he found in an undisclosed location provided an amazing insight into the evolution of the continent.
"I think many people forget, or are unaware of the fact that despite Australia being the driest and most nutrient-poor continent, it has a history that was moist, cooler and once covered in rainforest," he said.
The species is believed to have roots in the Gondwana period, about 65 to 70 million years ago.
The state government already has moved to protect the species under threatened species legislation.
Mr Kooyman discovered the mature trees last August, 12 years after sending clippings of a juvenile plant to the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
"Back in August I discovered some mature trees and was finally able to place them into a family and work out what genus it was, and realised it was a new species," he said.
The genus, Eidothea, are living fossils of rainforests which once covered the ancient supercontinent of Gondwanaland, which consisted of Australia, Africa, South America, Antarctica and New Zealand.
The Nightcap Oak can grow to up to 40 metres tall, with a diameter of about 75 centimetres.
It has nuts that Mr Kooyman described as similar to macadamia nuts and flowers that are "beautiful, interesting and primitive" with a faint scent of sweet aniseed.
Mr Kooyman said the find underlined the enormous conservation value of the region, which contained "great treasure troves of ancient flora and fauna".
"Let's face it, we have a unique evolutionary history on the planet, and so the meaning of that to some extent is kin to the search for the meaning of life," he said.
"It gives us another small paragraph or a page of the insight into the evolution of flowering plants and the incredible changes that have occurred on this continent through enormous periods of time".