Dinosaur-Era Tree Set for First Auction Sale

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Saplings of a giant tree that was a snack for dinosaurs and was believed to also be extinct until a chance discovery in Australia will be offered for sale to the public next month for the first time.

LONDON — Saplings of a giant tree that was a snack for dinosaurs and was believed to also be extinct until a chance discovery in Australia will be offered for sale to the public next month for the first time.


Less than 300 of the trees -- which can grow to at least 40 metres tall and live for 1,000 years -- will be offered for sale through auction house Sotheby's individually and in lots.


"Although the auction will be in Sydney, we expect telephone bidding from around the world," a spokeswoman for London's Kew Gardens, which put its sample on display in May, told Reuters.


"The idea is to conserve the tree by selling it commercially around the world," she said, adding that individual samples were expected to fetch around A$2,000 with collections of cuttings of the original discovery priced at up to A$50,000.


Wollemi pines were only known from fossil records dating back 90 million years until a chance discovery in 1994 of a living cluster in the Greater Blue Mountains, 200 km (125 miles) west of Sydney, by wildlife officer David Noble.


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To this day, the exact location is a closely guarded secret to protect the 100 trees -- relatives of the modern day Monkey Puzzle -- from unwanted human interference.


The tall, slender conifer has dark brown, bubbly bark and long, dark green leaves and is a member of the Araucariaceae family.


The Kew Gardens spokeswoman said the so-called Collectors Edition release of trees which are about 3 metres (10 ft) tall grown from cuttings of the originals would be followed by sales next year of smaller propagated saplings.


Source: Reuters