Though only a handful of people have seen the trees, all of them are stunned by its prehistoric beauty and predict that it will be a sensation when it is made available to the nursery industry. Botanists predict that it should be a good house plant because other similar species survive well in pots for several years and do not grow too big when contained. The Royal Botanic Gardens and the National Parks and Wildlife Service already have enough inquiries to fill a book - from nurseries, scientists and ordinary people around the world. THE biggest problem the scientists now have is trying to keep people patient. Even after the propagation techniques have been perfected it will be at least five years before large enough quantities of the tree have been grown to allow them to be sold commercially.
Every step is painstakingly slow.
Before Offord started work, she spent a week in the bowels of the Sydney University library reading every scrap of literature she could find on pine trees. Before the Botanic Garden's scientist went into the wild gorge to collect material for propagation, Offord spent a full day briefing him on all the information that the propagating team would need to know about the trees - exactly where it was growing, the conditions it seemed to require and the structure of any new growth. To get just 20 of the cuttings to start to grow in the tissue culture, Offord's assistant, Ms Joanne Tyler, set 500 pieces into test tubes. The cuttings in the test tubes look like miniature Christmas trees locked in a glass cage. The world of propagated Wollemi pines is very different from the rainforest, where they have sheltered for millions of years while ice ages have come and gone.