Tree Tumbo - The Living Fossil
Tree Tumbo - The Living Fossil
Welwitschia mirabilis 
This unique plant is special in many ways. Its appearance is quite unique in that it only has two leaves throughout its life, there may be thousands of years. Charles Darwin referred to it as "The plant response to platypus". It lives under extreme conditions in the Namib Desert Namibia, one of the world's driest areas.
Welwitschia mirabilis is the last with an ancient genus, which has now been forced back to this very particular environment. The oldest fossils found are around 13.5 million years old, and they do not differ from today's plants. It still bears some of its extinct, tropical relative’s characteristics such as thin, large leaves with many column openings.Welwitschia mirabilis was discovered by Austrian botanist Friedrich Welwitsch, and discovers on 3 of September 1859. He was convinced he had seen the finest and most majestic creation, as the tropical, southern Africa could offer.
The plant is often described as 'bizarre', 'weird', or (more explicitly) 'unlike any known plant on earth'. Its short, woody, unbranched stem is surmounted by 2 (rarely 3) strap-shaped leaves that grow throughout the life of the plant, becoming twisted and frayed with the passing centuries.
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