As well as protecting threatened Irish species, the National Botanic Gardens has an important role in keeping the ancient past alive. Last year it got 31 Wollemi Pines, a 200-million-year-old "pinosaur" species that was thought to have died out two million years ago but was rediscovered in a remote gorge outside Sydney in 1994.
The gardens also host a rare African Encephalartos cycad, of which the only known plants in the world are male. The Glasnevin specimen has yet to show its colours and has not produced gender-identifying cones over the century it has been in the gardens. However, it was recently planted into the palm house. "Now it has room to grow and we are hoping it will produce cones," says director Dr Peter Wyse Jackson. "If it's female it's going to be an international event."
