Welwitschia

Welwitschia (named after Friedrich Welwitsch, Austrian traveller, 1806-72), a genus of African Gymnosperms (q.v.) belonging to the Gnetaceæ (see SEA-GRAPE), and containing only one species (W. mirabilis). The stem of this remarkable plant may when mature be little over a foot high but several feet across. It bears but two leaves, the cotyledons, which sometimes grow to be 5 or 6 feet long and 2 or 3 wide, ultimately splitting into strips. The plant is said to live over 100 years. The flower consists of a panicle of brilliant overlapping scarlet scales.