Our remarkable Aussie bush never ceases to amaze with species that go against all the norms. Such a species is the almost incredible Kings Lomatia (Lomatia tasmanica) from Tasmania.

At a casual glance, this appears to be just another shrub or low tree, but look more deeply: it is very rare, with only 300-500 species spread across a 1.2 km zone in the Southwest National Park of Tasmania; it has been around for at least 40,000 years and possibly more than 100,000 years; and individual plants are known to have lived for 300 years.

But those plants have a dark and mysterious secret – they all are sterile and cannot breed!

How can that be?

At some point a sterile hybrid randomly appeared in the Tassie bush. This plant flourished in the moist conditions, where fires rarely occur. At some point a branch broke off or bent down to the ground, struck, and there were two. Over time more clones appeared, perhaps they even disappeared from some areas but were sustained in others. Thus, those 300-odd plants are just one plant, a plant that is now possibly over 100,000 years old and one of the oldest plants in the world!

First discovered in 1934 by naturalist Deny King (hence the name), Kings Lomatia lay in obscurity until it was formally described by Curtis in 1967. It was subsequently listed as critically endangered under the Federal Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999. The Tasmanian Herbarium now has a conservation program in place that is cloning plants to keep a safe supply in case of a bushfire or similar calamity in the narrow zone where they are found.

Further reading: Lomatia tasmanica – DPIPWE.

– Article by Greg Holland, image from here.