living fossil
Every article and hero in Arborpedia that touches this subject.
№ 117TreesCycads: Living Fossils That Grow Their Own Fertiliser
Ancient seed plants that look like palms but predate the dinosaurs, host nitrogen-fixing bacteria in special upward-growing roots, guard toxic seeds — and are among the most trafficked plants on Earth.
Jul 2026Read →
№ 185TreesGinkgo: The Living Fossil That Outlived the Dinosaurs
A tree with no living relatives, unchanged for 200 million years, saved from extinction by temple gardeners and now the toughest street tree there is.
Jul 2026Read →
№ 506TreesUmbrella Pine: The Living Fossil With Spokes for Leaves
A Japanese conifer so ancient and so distinct it sits alone in its own family — the last survivor of a 230-million-year-old lineage, with glossy needle-like 'leaves' arranged like the ribs of an umbrella.
Jul 2026Read →
№ 528TreesWollemi Pine: The Dinosaur Tree Found Alive in a Hidden Gorge
A conifer known only from fossils until a bushwalker abseiled into a canyon in 1994 and found it living — now propagated worldwide to insure a species down to fewer than a hundred wild trees.
Jul 2026Read →