A Welwitschia Story in Three Photos
Act i - A nineteenth century illustration
Welwitschia mirabilis, Fitch - Hand coloured lithograph of Welwitschia mirabilis by Walter Hood Fitch, Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, Pl. 5368, 1863, vol. 89. Kew Collection.
Go read Kew’s page on this strange plant.
It’s the only species in its genus, and the only genus in its family. Unlike other succulents, which are angiosperms (flower bearing plants), it is more closely related to conifers. It lives in the extreme heat of the Namibian desert, and is adapted with deep roots and succulent spiraling leaves to take in water from fog.
Act ii - A fantastic pose
Go read the man in the photo’s page on Welwitschia at his caudiciform plant blog. The plants live thousands of years with the same two leaves continuously extruding out from the center like toothpaste from a tube, the ends dying back over time. So much more wild info up there.
Act iii - Possibly the rarest plant I have ever seen in person.
The hands of a tour guide at the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory hold a variegated Welwitschia mirabilis seedling. Welwitschia are very rare in cultivation, and UC Davis has several of them, meaning they can get seed. It specifically takes a male and a female plant, and a specialized greenhouse in most places, so it isn’t easy. Of course a variegated (multicolored) mutant of any plant is a rare occurrence, but this may be the variegate Welwitschia in existence.
This last photo is the only one that I took, while I was touring the greenhouses with the SF Succulent and Cactus Society this weekend.
