“Global initiative to save the Wollemi pine”. Until an extraordinary discovery in 1994, the tree now called the Wollemi pine – Wollemia nobilis (Araucariaceae) – was known only to palaeontologists as a group of plants assumed to be extinct since the time of the dinosaurs. When a small number of trees was found growing in a remote gorge in the Wollemi National Park 150 kilometres from Sydney, it was the extraordinary first living evidence of this unique conifer beyond a fossil record that appeared to end over 70 million years ago. In this article, Pirie summarises the morphology, ecology, systematic position, and conservation status of W. nobilis in the context of a new international conservation initiative: an ex situ ‘metacollection’ of Wollemi pines. The project is coordinated by the Botanic Gardens of Sydney and involves partners including Forestry England, Botanic Gardens Conservation International, and around 30 botanic gardens across the world, including the Bergen University Gardens. Each garden has received six individual plants representing carefully selected subsets of the remaining genetic diversity of the species. Pirie discusses the future prospects for this and other collections of threatened plants at the gardens.