Petrified jungle

The petrified jungle was the remains of a forest on Skaro, in which all vegetation had been turned to stone, presumably by the use of neutron bombs in the neutronic war (or, alternatively, in the Thousand Year War). The TARDIS materialised in the jungle when it first arrived on Skaro. The First Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara found the body of a magnedon there. A party of Thals led by Temmosus made their camp in the jungle during their quest to save their people. (TV: The Daleks) According to one account, which took place some time earlier, Susan landed the TARDIS in the jungle in an attempt to visit Venus. (COMIC: The Message of Mystery)

At some point, presumably in the 41st century, an area of the jungle was recovered from Skaro by humans and taken to Station 7 for the Space Security Service to research. A Slyther, Varga plant and the same magnedon the First Doctor came across was included. The Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond arrived in the jungle area shortly before a Dalek force attacked while searching for a human experiment on Dalek nature which disgusted them. The jungle was destroyed along with the station when the Daleks concluded the experiment was not on board. (COMIC: The Only Good Dalek)

Behind the scenes

There is some dispute over the exact name of the place. In the serial The Daleks, the First Doctor calls it "a petrified jungle" in "The Dead Planet" and "the petrified jungle" in "The Ambush", but calls it "the petrified forest" in the episode "The Rescue". In the same serial, it is called a "forest" by Barbara in "The Dead Planet" and "The Survivors", by the Doctor in "The Survivors", by Alydon in "The Escape" and "The Ambush", and by Ian in "The Expedition"; and is called a "jungle" by Susan in "The Dead Planet", and by the Doctor, a Dalek and Ian in "The Survivors". However, it is exclusively referred to as a forest in Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks, the novelisation of The Daleks. It is called "a petrified forest" in the novelisation of Remembrance of the Daleks and "the petrified forest" in the novelisation of The Evil of the Daleks. In The Only Good Dalek, it is called "the petrified jungle".