Wollemi Pine - Jurassic Period Dr Cochran says the Wollemi pine is “one of the oldest and rarest plants on earth and also a member of the 'dinosaur tree' family Araucariaceae, dating back 200 million years to the early Jurassic Period.” The Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis) used to cover Australia.
Posidonia australis is an ancient and incredibly resilient seagrass that has been discovered in Shark Bay, Western Australia. It's at least 4,500 years old and spans 180km of shallow ocean.
The Wollemia nobilis was common across Australia from more than 100 million years ago to about 60 million years ago. But as the continent dried out while drifting north, about 30 million years ago, the trees started to disappear.
The lycopods or lycophytes are one of the oldest lineages of living vascular plants. They first appeared in the Silurian period (425 million years ago), and became extremely diverse by the late Carboniferous period (323-298 million years ago) and some species grew as trees more than 100 feet tall.
The Jurassic vegetation of Australia was predominantly made up of abundant southern conifers including Kauri Pines (Agathis), Monkey-puzzles, similar to Hoop, Bunya and Norfolk Island Pines. There were also Podocarps resembling living species of Podocarp.
Kangaroo paw (Anigozanthos)
This unique Australian plant get's its name from its furry flower which is shaped just like a kangaroo's paw. They're often red in colour, but in the wild their flowers can also range from green to pink, yellow and black.
These are the 5 most popular Australian native plants:
Banksia, Waratah, Wattle, Bottlebrush and Eucalyptus.
32,000-year-old seeds regenerated the oldest plant to ever exist. Back in 2012, Russian scientists from the Institute of Cell Biophysics regenerated the silene stenophylla, a native plant of Serbia with white flowers, from 32,000-year-old seeds.
Giant Groundsels, scientifically known as Dendrosenecio kilimanjari, are prehistoric plants that can be found atop Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. They evolved over a million years ago in areas with altitudes above 14,000 feet, where they adapted to survive in sub-zero temperatures.
Montsechia vidalii was a weed-like plant that lived completely submerged in the shallow waters of Europe's lakes. Its fossils have been dated to 130-125 million years ago, meaning it was possibly older than Archaefructus.
What is it? The Wollemi Pine is one of the world's oldest and rarest tree species belonging to a 200 million-year-old plant family. It was known from fossil records and presumed extinct until it was discovered in 1994 by a bushwalker in the Wollemi National Park just outside Australia's largest city, Sydney.
The Daintree Rainforest is at least 135 million years old – possibly even as old as 180 million years! It is the world's oldest tropical lowland rainforest.
Wollemi pines are among the rarest plants in the world, with fewer than 100 trees left in their native habitat. They were known only by fossil records until 1994, when a thicket of about 40 massive, conifer-type trees was discovered in Wollemi National Park, in Australia's Blue Mountains.
He has one of the rarest plants in Australia - only one individual is known in the wild, the Ormeau Myrtle.
Yew are remarkable for their ability to renew themselves and continue to live and thrive for thousands of years. It's unsurprising then that the oldest tree in the UK is a yew tree.
“Dinosaur Kale” reflects the deeply textured, crinkly foliage that – with some imagination – looks like a dinosaur's skin. “Lacinato” also refers to the “cut” surface of the leaves and “Tuscan” comes from its popularity in the cuisine of Tuscany.
Instead, ferns, ginkgoes, bennettitaleans or "cycadeoids", and true cycads -- like the living cycad pictured at the above right -- flourished in the Jurassic. Conifers were also present, including close relatives of living redwoods, cypresses, pines, and yews.
Conifers, cycadophytes, ginkgoes, ferns and large arborescent horsetails dominated the landscape. By the mid-Jurassic Period, conifers had become more diverse and many of their fossils have been assigned to modern families such as Araucariaceae, Pinaceae and Taxodiaceae.
Enter the Immortality herb (Jiaogulan) Gynostemma pentaphyllum, a vine believed to have immune-strengthening and cholesterol-lowering properties. It also makes a great decoration when grown cascading over the rim of a pot. With support and care, the vines can reach 25 feet long.
A Russian team discovered a seed cache of Silene stenophylla, a flowering plant native to Siberia, that had been buried by an Ice Age squirrel near the banks of the Kolyma River (map). Radiocarbon dating confirmed that the seeds were 32,000 years old.
The silene stenophylla, a native plant from Serbia with white flowers, was revived from 32,000-year-old seeds by Russian scientists some years ago. Details of their achievement were published in the paper titled 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'.
Kangaroo paw
Kangaroo Paws are truly one of Australia's most iconic indigenous plants. The floral emblem of West Australia is the Kangaroo paw, where this interesting plant originates. Kangaroo paws grow best in sunny areas that get winter rain. They're pollinated by birds and small nectar-feeding possums.
The corpse lily: biggest flower in Australia.
Some of the most popular native plants in Australia include Eucalyptus, Waratah, Banksia, Melaleuca (known locally as Paper Barks, Tea Trees or Honey Myrtles), Spider Flowers, Flannel Flowers, and Golden Wattles.