Wollemia nobilis (Wollemi Pine) - Biosecurity New Zealand

3 IMPORT RISK ANALYSIS
The following chapter provides information on the commodity and pathway that is relevant to
the analysis of biosecurity risks, and common to all organisms or diseases potentially
associated with the pathway and commodity. Organism or disease-specific information is
provided in subsequent chapters (4 to 12).
3.1 Commodity Description
As already mentioned in Chapter 2, the scope of this risk analysis is the potential hazard
organisms or diseases associated with nursery stock of Wollemia nobilis imported from
Australia. For the purposes of this analysis “nursery stock” means “whole plants or parts of
plants imported for growing purposes, e.g. cuttings, scions, budwood, marcots, off-shoots,
root divisions, bulbs, corms, tubers and rhizomes.” The three forms of nursery stock being
considered in this analysis include:
o “plants in vitro” which is defined as “a commodity class for plants growing in an
aseptic medium in a closed container”;
o “root-less cuttings” which is defined as “Plant cuttings that may have leaves and
shoots, but no roots”; and
o “whole plants” which is defined as “a nursery stock commodity sub-class for rooted
cuttings and plants with roots and leaves”.
The first officially published record of Wollemia nobilis was by Jones, Hill & Allen (1995).
The Wollemia genus is part of the Araucariaceae family of the Gymnospermae (a plant which
has naked seeds). As this genus has not existed in New Zealand for over 100 million years it
was considered a “new organism” and was prohibited entry into New Zealand under the
Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act (1998) until October 2005, when the New
Zealand Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) gave an approval 9 for its
import subject to the development of an import health standard under the Biosecurity Act
(1993).
3.1.1 Basic description of Wollemia nobilis
Wollemia nobilis is an erect conifer with attractive, dark green foliage and unusual bubbly
bark (“resembling bubbling chocolate”), growing up to 40 metres high in the wild with a
trunk diameter of over one metre. The leaves on adult lateral shoots are one of the most
distinctive features, being arranged in four ranks, with two ranks at about 150-175° and the
other two ranks lying between the first two at about 50-90°. Adult and juvenile shoots of
Wollemia differ in leaf arrangement, leaf shape, and cuticular features: in these features they
are most similar to Araucaria. An unusual characteristic is its habit of shedding whole
branches rather than individual leaves (NPWS 1998).
9 ERMA document NOR04003: at http://www.ermanz.govt.nz/appfiles/execsumm/word/NOR04003-002.doc
Page 18 of 193 14 March 2008 Import Risk Analysis: Wollemia nobilis (Wollemi Pine) Araucariaceae Nursery Stock from Australia