Saturday, March 21, 2009

Welwitschia Mirabilis: This plant is really a one-of-a-kind...

  

It's not pretty to look at, but Namibia's plant Welwitschia Mirabilis can truly claim to be one of a kind. There really is nothing like it. Welwitschia plant consists of only two leaves and a sturdy stem with roots. That's all! Two leaves continue to grow until they resemble the shaggy mane of some sci-fi alien. The stem thickens, rather than gains in height , and can grow to be almost 2 meters high and 8 meters wide. Their estimated lifespan is 400 to 1500 years.

(image on left thanks to: via)

(Image on right thanks to: Botanik-Fotos.de, photo by Karlheinz Knoch)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, but what does it do!!!??? And can it be smoked?!

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