EXCLUSIVE: 'Living fossil' Christmas tree
The Tregothnan estate, near Truro, is no stranger to making botanical history, having been home to the first outdoor camellia flowers in the UK for the last 200 years, and cultivating the UK's first tea plantation.
Tregothnan has now added to its legacy by becoming the first place in the world to sell the "dinosaur Christmas tree", which hails from the Australian outback. The Wollemia noblis, more popularly known as the Wollemia Pine, is an endangered Australian tree species that is described as a "living fossil".
The oldest fossil of the tree has been dated to 200 million years ago, and the last known fossils of the genus date from around two million years ago.
The ancient tree was only discovered in 1994 by Wollemi National Park field officer David Noble, in the Blue Mountains, 150 kilometres north-west of Sydney.
He returned with specimens, expecting someone to be able to identify the plants, but was to discover that they were new to science – Wollemia nobilis is the sole living member of its genus.
Although it has been dubbed the Wollemi Pine, it is not a true pine but rather a member of the Araucariaceae family.
Tregothnan was first in the UK to cultivate the tree after acquiring a specimen from a Sotheby's auction in Sydney.
This spring, the 7ft original tree produced male and female cones on the same tree – another first outside Australia.
Garden director Jonathon Jones, said: "It was thought to be extinct, it's like finding a dinosaur in your forest. That's probably what that guy felt like when he first saw it. When you walk into our Christmas tree forest, it's like stumbling across T. rex. We've already had orders from Scotland, the north of England and London. It's a first internationally and it's quite a sensation."
The evergreen tree, which is guaranteed not to drop needles, can reach a height of 25 to 40 metres (80 to 112 feet), and has distinctive, dark brown, knobbly bark. The young Tregothnan trees will be about three feet tall, or four feet including the pot.
The Tregothnan Christmas tree forest is open every day until Christmas Eve. Conventional trees are available from £15 and Wollemia cost £59.95 and will be delivered to most areas of the UK for an additional £7.
For more information, visit www.tregothnan.co.uk
Jonathan Barnicoat carries one of the rare Christmas trees
