When botanist Lui Weber visited his local physiotherapist for back treatment, he left with his head spinning after discovering a new rainforest tree species, the Wongawallan walnut (Endiandra wongawallanesis), in his backyard. Source: ABC News
“I was actually getting my physio from a guy who lives around here [Wongawallan],” he said. “In his backyard was a big tree with corky bark and it was very peculiar; the leaves were small, the bark was thick.”
Mr Weber said the tree resembled the Crystal Creek walnut, which is an endangered species found in northern New South Wales.
“It didn’t seem the same as the Crystal Creek walnut, but it took years to find the actual flowers and fruit to find out that it was actually different,” he said.
To get the species formally identified, the botanist had to describe the anatomy of the plant and what distinguished it from other species.”
Then you have to formally publish it and name it in a taxonomic journal which is Austrobaileya, the Queensland Herbarium’s journal,” Mr Weber said.
Principal botanist at the Queensland Herbarium Paul Forster said the rainforests in south-east Queensland were relatively well explored, so the discovery was significant.
“There’s been a lot of effort over many years to discover all of the plants that occur there,” he said.
“The discovery of a new species in really close proximity to the Gold Coast, in the hinterland, after over 100 years of botanical exploration in that area is highly significant.”
Mr Forster said between 10 and 20 new plant species were discovered in Queensland each year.
“The majority of those are found in relatively remote and poorly explored parts of the state,” he said.
“Particularly on Cape York Peninsula, or the wet tropics in the north.
“Mr Forster says the tree has a large fruit and there is a theory that its seeds were dispersed by now-extinct megafauna which disappeared in southern Queensland about 10,000 years ago.
Now cassowaries fill this role.
“There are number of species (walnut trees) that occur in both north Queensland and in southern Queensland,” he said.
“In north Queensland the fruit is consumed and moved around by cassowary and other species like giant white-tailed rats.
“In southern Queensland nothing is moving them around and the species are very rare as a result.
“Gold Coast botanist David Jinks said the discovery of the endangered tree which can grow up to 27 metres in height was surprising and exciting.
“To find a tree species anywhere is significant, in this day and age, near a large population,” he said.
“To find it minutes from the M1 (Pacific Highway); no one would have expected that.”
Mr Jinks knows the feeling of discovering a new tree species after he found the Springbrook leatherwood in the Gold Coast hinterland in 1993.
The discovery never garnered much attention, because it coincided with the discovery of the ‘iconic’ Wollemi pine, west of Sydney, which attracted international attention.
The botanist is now helping to restore and rehabilitate a parcel of privately owned land at Mudgeeraba in the Gold Coast hinterland, which has a large stand of Wongawallan walnuts.”
It’s part good bush and part cattle property,” said David Jinks. “The owners [in the] long term are wanting to restore the property back to its natural state and they are lucky enough to have the world’s largest population of that new tree on this property.”
Mr Jinks estimates there are around 1,000 young and mature Wongawallan walnut trees in existence and they are all located on the Gold Coast.
“There’s twice as many panda on the planet as there are these trees, so they really are very, very threatened,” he said.
“They can be grown and planted in appropriate places to help survive the population.”
The botanist said it was important to properly manage the existing populations of Wongawallan walnuts.
