Welwitschia mirabilis, Tumboa

Botanical Name: Welwitschia mirabilis

Common Name: Tumboa

220px-Welwitschia_Mirabilis_Area_of_Circulation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welwitschia

Location: The Welwitschia mirabilis grows exclusively in western Africa in the deserts of Namibia and Angola.

Cones: The Welwitschia mirabilis is a dioecious plant, which means that they’re either male or female. The male Welwitschia produces small salmon-colored pollen cones and the female Welwitschia produces larger blue-green colored seed cones.

Female Seed Cone http://thepipershihtzu2.blogspot.com/2011/08/welwitschia-really-weird-plant.html

Male Pollen Cone http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A383591-1

Seed Pollination: The Welwitchia mirabilis attracts a wide variety of bugs, but it it thought to be pollinated by beetles and or bees and wasps.

Seed Dispersal: Once a seed cone has been polinated it takes 9 months before they are ready to be dispersed. The seeds that the Welwitchia produces are dispersed by the wind and they contain small wing like structures that allow them to travel greater distances by floating through the air.

Intresting Facts: The Welwitchia is a type of gymnosperm and is most closely related to the confiers, but it will only produces two leaves in its entire life. The leaves become shreaded as a result of environmental conditions and as a result they’ll appear to have multiple leaves. The Welwitchia is also considered to be a living fossil and can live up to 2,000 years. The apical meristem of the Welwitchia dies at a very young age which inhibits the vertical growth of the plant, but they’ll continue to grow outwards. The largest recorded Welwitchia was 1.8 m tall and 8.7 m wide.

https://www.asklepios-seeds.de/gb/welwitschia-mirabilis-seeds.html

https://b-and-t-world-seeds.com/40487.html

Adaptations to the Desert: The Welwitschia is one of the best adapted desert plants. In the desert that the Welwischia grows it is very common for their to be fog and the Welwischia is able to harvest some of the water from this fog by collecting condensation on its large leaves which direct the water to the roots. The plant also has a long taproot which allows it to access underground water that is out of reach of most desert plants.

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