Welwitschia mirabilis
- Date
- 1859 · confidence high
- Place
- Moçâmedes (Namibe), Namibe Province, Angola
- Credited to
- Friedrich Welwitsch
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
The Austrian botanist Friedrich Welwitsch found in the Namib desert a plant with only two ribbon-like leaves that grow throughout its life. Hooker described it in 1863 and named it for its discoverer; it can live more than a thousand years.
Welwitsch found it in 1859 near Cabo Negro; Hooker published the formal description in 1863 on receiving the specimens. Local peoples already knew it.
What it led to
- a living fossil of the gnetophytes and debate on angiosperm origins
- fog capture by a desert plant
- a botanical symbol of Namibia