The Rebirth of the Wollemi Pine: Plant Lives in Histories of Extinction

Plants rarely feature in histories of extinction. In recent decades, the animal-turn and more-than-human perspectives have reshaped who can count as a historical subject. While fruitful, this also risks creating animal-centric histories at the expense of other kingdoms, such as plants and fungi. Drawing on the Wollemi pine’s journey from being critically endangered in the wild to domestic gardens, this article investigates the neglect of plants in postwar circles to explore the political exclusions of modern conservation. In doing so, it calls for new forms of historical writing that respect plants for their ways of being, and as life’s elders.