Welwitschia mirabilis Samen, Welwitschie „lebendes Fossil“

Welwitschia mirabilis seeds

Welwitschia mirabilis is a strange and rare plant commonly known as living fossil or welwitschia. Other common names include tree tumbo, kharos or khurub. The plant synonyms include welwitschia bainesii, Tumboa welwitschia, Tumboa strobilifera and Tumboa bainesii. Welwitschia is a monotypic plant of Welwitschiaceae family, welwitschiales order and welwitschia genus. The emergence of this species can be traced back to southern Africa mainly in the Namib Desert within Angola and Namibia.

Living fossil grow a thick trunk, which decreases subterranean to a long taproot. That is the reason they're planted in water pipes instead of typical pots. Over the ground, they're surprising for their two weathered, lace-like leaves. These leaves are continually developing at the base, while their closures dry out and quarrel. Incredibly, these are the main two leaves the plant will have in all its years – and this plant can live for a considerable length of time! The most established precedent is somewhere close to 1,500 and 2,000 years of age. Like other seed plants, gnetophytes are heterosporous. The proliferation of gnetophytes takes after conifer multiplication in a few different ways. Microsporangiate (male) cones and megasporangiate (female) cones produce small scale and megaspores, individually. Both the female and male gnetophyte cones are compound, similar to female (however not male) conifer cones. Gnetophyte cones and leaves come up short on the sap channels present in conifer cones.

The plant can be useful in diverse ways. For instance, Pronghorns and rhinos eat leaves and delicate pieces of the stem to get water. Welwitschia can be utilised either crude or as a piece of the prepared feast. Welwitschia can also be developed as a houseplant.

Damaged plant as a rule always figures out how to recover and thus can survive aggression and regular browses. It is often considered "onion of desert" in light of the fact that indigenous individuals eat the centre of the plant. In addition, Welwitschia is considered a "living dead” due to the considerable length of time it can survive in the dry Namib Desert. They are profoundly adaptive to the unforgiving natural conditions.