Welwitschia mirabilis, one of the three wonders of the Plant Kingdom, can be found in central Namibia, which is its southernmost distribution limit. The Welwitschia plant can grow to be over 1,000 years old with recent carbon tests have indicated ages up to 5,000 years.
The plant only forms two leaves, which continuously grow from the base, while the ends die off and wither.
Welwitschias usually grow in washes and along lines of water runoff. Here soil moisture accumulates from rare rainfall events and becomes trapped in coarse gravel or between rock fissures.
The plant tap this ground moisture with their large lateral root system, which can reach a radius of about 15 metres from the plant, but rarely penetrates the soil deeper than 2 metres
Younger female plant with seed cones.
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