Nightcap Oak (Eidothea hardeniana): seeds of hope being planted in the Nightcap & Jerusalem districts

 

#EXCLUSIVE: An endangered tree as ancient and rare as the Wollemi Pine is getting a second chance at survival.

The last remaining Nightcap Oak Trees were discovered 20 years ago, and now their seedlings are being planted across four secret locations. @biancabalzer #9News pic.twitter.com/ecWhz5nkWx

— 9News Australia (@9NewsAUS) May 7, 2022

 

BACKGROUND

ABC News, 15 June 2020:

A stand of Gondwana-era trees ravaged by bushfire last year is showing what it takes to be one of nature's great survivors.

The critically endangered nightcap oak has survived in the rainforests of northern New South Wales since the Eocene epoch, about 40 million years ago. The species Eidothea hardeniana first emerged when Australia and Antarctica were a single land mass and it has thrived through climatic extremes and across the aeons as its habitat drifted slowly northwards. But late last year its damp forest home experienced something new. After a prolonged period without rain, lightning strikes set fire to the rainforest around Mount Nardi in the Nightcap National Park, eventually burning a total of more than 6,000 hectares.....

There are only 125 fully grown nightcap oaks, all located in a small area of rainforest in northern New South Wales......

Official numbers from the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service record less than a fifth of the total population was killed by the bushfire.....

Dr Kooyman said despite the positive signs, only time would tell whether Eidothea hardeniana's initial response to fire would result in its long-term future survival. 

He said a drying landscape and increased risks of fire were now the biggest threats to the trees.....