Editing Wodyetia bifurcata (section)

===General:===
This spectacular palm was only discovered in the late 1970's
and because of demand for seeds and it being endemic to only a very small area
there developed a flourishing black market in its seed for several years.
Even today, the Queensland Government still has the palm on its
endangered species list, even tho there are now tens of thousands of the
palms growing throughout the world, many of which are now fruiting.
In the early days of this palms commercial existence when seeds were
still very valuable, there were several fruiting specimens in the
Townsville Palmetum (it was one of the first places to get plants).
When members of the Townsville branch of PACSOA saw the fruits ripening,
they would spray paint them green, in an attempt to fool any would be
thieves into thinking they were still unripe, and hence hopefully,
leave them alone.

This palm is very closely related to another north Queensland palm,
''[[Normanbya normanbyi]]'', and it is expected that both will be put into the
same genus when a revision is made of the two species.