Figure

Welwitschia mirabilis is a truly strange and unique gymnosperm. Composed of little more than a central core and a deep taproot this odd plant acquires an octopus-like appearance from its two very long frayed and battered leaves. It was originally sighted in 1859 by the Austrian botanist Friedrich Welwitsch: ‘[who] could do nothing but kneel down and gaze at it, half in fear lest a touch should prove it a figment of the imagination’. Eventually, specimens were sent to Kew where Sir Joseph Hooker named the species Welwitschia after its finder, and mirabilis, meaning ‘extraordinary’.