[2] The Wollemi pine is classified as critically endangered (CR) on the IUCN's Red List,[1] and is legally protected in Australia.

They disintegrate at maturity to release the seeds which are small and brown, thin and papery with a wing around the edge to aid wind-dispersal.

[8] The discovery, on or about 10 September 1994, by David Noble, Michael Casteleyn, and Tony Zimmerman, occurred only because the group had been systematically exploring the area, looking for new canyons.

[7] Noble had good botanical knowledge, and quickly recognised the trees as unusual because of the unique bark, and worthy of further investigation.

After the identification was made, National Parks then went under a veil of secrecy, with the discoverers not learning the full magnitude of their discovery for about six months.

Comparison with living and fossilised Araucariaceae proved that it was a member of that family, and it has been placed into a new genus, beside the genera Agathis and Araucaria.

[17] New South Wales park rangers believe the virulent water mould was introduced by unauthorised visitors to the site, the location of which is still undisclosed to the public.

[9][18][19][20][21] "Home gardeners become accidental citizen scientists for Wollemi Pine" was the headline of a 2023 news article reporting results of an unusual conservation strategy underway since 2005.

This unusual management decision for an endangered plant owed to the "huge public interest in this rare tree" and as an experiment to test whether commercial availability would serve "to protect wild populations from illegal collecting.

"[22] Results were tallied from more than 1,500 people from 31 countries who were growing the cuttings and responded to an online survey created by two plant scientists in Australia.

[24] It is also proving to be more adaptable and cold-hardy than its restricted temperate-subtropical, humid distribution would suggest, tolerating temperatures between −5 and 45 °C (23 and 113 °F), with reports, from Japan and the USA, that it can survive down to −12 °C (10 °F).

[26] The Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney have published information on how to grow Wollemi pines from seed which has been harvested from helicopters from the forest trees.

After this, the pot should be removed from the plastic bag and placed somewhere warm but not very sunny until the seed germinates (remembering to keep them moist but not wet).

[27] Examples of the species can be viewed at The Tasmanian Arboretum and at Giardini di Villa della Pergola in Alassio, Italy.

It will adapt to a diverse range of climatic zones, thriving in full sun to semi shaded outdoor positions.

[31] Further, the recent description of several extinct genera within the Araucariaceae points to complex relationships within the family and a significant loss of diversity since the Cretaceous.

[32][33] An early study of the rbcL gene sequence places Wollemia in the basal position of the Araucariaceae and as the sister group to Agathis and Araucaria.

[6] This article incorporates text from the ARKive fact-file "Wollemia" under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License and the GFDL.