Commercialization of Rare Wollemi Pine Awarded
8/23/99
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Title: Commercialization of Rare Wollemi Pine Awarded
Source: Environment News Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: August 23, 1999
ATHERTON, Queensland, Australia, August 23, 1999 (ENS) - Queensland
Forestry Research Institute's expertise with hoop pine and
propagating has won the coveted exclusive rights to commercialize
Wollemi Pine. The Institute is run by the state of Queensland, the
second largest of Australia's six states.
Wollemi Pine is a rare softwood whose closest relatives are fossils
dating more than 100 million years.
Wollemi Pine is presently found only in the rugged Wollemi National
Park in New South Wales, but will be commercialized to help preserve
it and discourage illegal trade in propagules.
The Wollemi Pine was discovered in August 1994 by New South Wales
National Parks & Wildlife Officer David Noble. This discovery was
assessed as a probable new species by NPWS officers and brought to
the attention of the Herbarium. It was positively identified as a new
genus in the Araucariaceae by Ken Hill.
Acting Queensland Forestry Research Institute executive director Ron
Beck, said Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Forestry will
propagate Wollemi Pine for commercial sale through the Queensland
Forestry Research Institute. Birkdale Nursery will market the Wollemi
Pine domestically and internationally.
The DPI Forestry and Birkdale Nursery partnership was chosen from a
shortlist of five organisations after a two year search in Australia
and overseas for a suitable company to propagate Wollemi Pines for
sale.
The pine is thought to have enormous potential as a household plant,
especially in the lucrative Japanese market where around 300 million
potted plants are sold each year.
Queensland Forestry Research Institute director, Dr. Russell Haines,
who has studied the reproductive biology of Wollemi Pine's relative
hoop pine for more than 25 years, said he was very excited to be
involved in this project. "This is the equivalent of finding a
dinosaur and breeding it," he said.
DPI Forestry, will initially invest $6 million in developing Wollemi
Pine and expects to sell two million plants annually. Sales are
expected to begin within five years.