Reader’s Digest Australia & New Zealand – May 2019

READER’S DIGEST

May• 2019 | 107

Pinesareknowntoexistinthewild.
In 2008 afurther 18 forestswere
sown, including the threatened
speciesMonkeyPuzzle(Araucaria
araucana) fromChile– namedsobe-
causethespikyleavesleftmonkeys
puzzlingoverhowtoclimbthem–
andthecriticallyendangeredSaharan
Cypress(Cupressusdupreziana), a tree
thatonlygrowsinlimitedareasofthe
SaharaDesertinsouth-eastAlgeria.
Thearboretumcurrentlyhasthelarg-
eststandofthesetreesanywherein
theworld– includingtheSahara.
In 2013 thearboretumwasopened
to the public. Currently, there are 94

mostlymonoculture(single-species)

forestsgrowing,including 31 threat-

enedspecies,twoofwhichareextinct

inthewild– theToromirofromEaster

IslandandFrankliniafromtheUS.

“Thisistheonlyarboretuminthe

worldofthiscalibre.Inotherarbo-

retumsyoumightwalk 30 metres

andsee 30 differenttrees.Thisisthe

onlymonoculturearboretum,”says

Saddler.

Manyofthetreesarestillyoung.

However,twoforests,Himalayan

Cedar(Cedrusdeodara),plantedin

1921,andCorkOak(Quercussuber)

in 1917, are over 100 years old and

Fromleft:a LonePineandoneofthefewplantationpinesthatsurvivedthefire;

sculpture made from old farm tools; the Smokebush is representative of the fire