Rare tree bearing fruit with hope of seedlings

One of the world's rarest trees - dubbed the dinosaur tree - is bearing fruit for the first time in a garden in Worcestershire.

Gardeners are hoping the evergreen in Wichenford, Malvern, can be propagated to help the endangered species.

Fossils have shown the Wollemi pine dates back more than 90 million years, but it was thought to be extinct until several were found in a remote valley in Australia in 1994.

Pamela Thompson, the owner and head gardener at Pear Tree Cottage, is hoping the fruit this year can be used to increase numbers.

"It would be amazing, absolutely amazing, to have seedlings and to propagate from the world's rarest tree," she said. "I couldn't imagine being so lucky to do it."

She said the tree, which looks similar to a monkey puzzle tree, was now bearing both male and female fruit for the first time.

"The long pendulous fruits are actually the male cone and the globular spiky fruits are the female cones," she said. "So what we're really hoping later in the year would be to collect and germinate some of the seeds from it."

The garden will be open as part of the National Garden Scheme on 4 May.

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