Tree that came back from age of dinosaurs

A tree dating from the dinosaur age and thought to have been extinct for two million years was today unveiled at Kew Gardens.

The chance discovery of the Jurassic-period tree in Australia astonished botanists worldwide.

Today the Wollemi Pine was unveiled by Sir David Attenborough. He said: "How marvellous and exciting that we should have discovered this rare survivor from such an ancient past.

"It is romantic, I think, that something has survived 200 million years unchanged."

Found in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, it was confirmed as a new genus of an ancient plant family, Araucariaceae. The locations of the 100 or so trees still living in the wild remain a secret.

Tony Kirkham, head of Kew arboretum, said today: "I first heard about it when it was found in 1994 but thought it could not

be true. In botanic terms, it is like a zoologist going out and finding a live dinosaur somewhere, a Tyrannosaurus rex."

Actor and director Kenneth Branagh also planted a sister tree at Wakehurst Place, Kew's country garden in Sussex.

The tree is a tall conifer closely related to the monkey puzzle tree and has distinctive bark and an unusual branch pattern. It will feature at the Kew Gardens stand, Message In A Bottle, at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

First generation trees, said to be good garden or patio plants, will go on sale for several thousand pounds at the end of this year.