Velvichia is amazing (Welwitschiamirabilis) - a representative of the Velvichiaceae genus, includes only one species. This is a completely unique succulent that is unlike any other desert plant. It was first discovered in the Namibian desert by Professor Friedrich Welwich. In botany, Velvichia could not be classified for a very long time and was eventually classified as a desert relict tree.

Externally, Velvichia amazing looks quite strange, it exotic plant in its purest form! It grows, spreading its only pair of two-meter-long leaves on the sand. The intense desert wind tears the leaves into hundreds of fibers, which then become tangled together, turning into a strange tangle. In Namibia and Angola, you can find Welwitschia, whose age has long exceeded two thousand years, and the length of the leaves exceeds 6 meters. For its impressive size and extraordinary beauty the plant is often called the “queen of the desert.” It is also strange that the trunk of the relict tree is only 50 cm high, and the roots are hidden in the sand and go deeper than 3 meters.

In the world you can count on one hand the lucky ones who have seen amazing Velvichia in all its glory in natural environment. It always grows alone; within a radius of hundreds of meters you will not find a single blade of grass. The special structure of its leaves helps Velvichia survive in the desert, each of which contains hundreds of stomata that absorb moisture from the air. Namibia is often foggy and the humidity is very high.

The flowering of Velvichia amazing is an unusual sight. Cones appear between its two leaves, from which small, erect flowers grow.

Velvichia is very rare plant, which is almost never found on sale. A national park has been created in Namibia to protect plants from the predatory nature of humans. Despite this, sometimes there is a rare chance to legally purchase seeds or young Welwitschia. Professional flower growers cultivate it in greenhouses. IN room conditions the plant will not develop properly and will quickly wither.

Velvichia amazing photo

The vast majority of desert plants are characterized by small size, lack of leaves and, mainly, belonging to the succulent family. But as you know, every rule has its exception. This exception is.

Velvichia completely different from the usual ones desert plants Moreover, it is unlike any other plant in the world. Velvichia amazing has only 2 leaves, which grow in opposite directions from a rosette raised above the ground by 30 - 50 cm. The lack of leaves is more than compensated by their size: up to 8 meters in length and up to 2 meters in width. Velvichia grows two leaves all its life, their number never increases.

In the photographs it is easy to notice that the plant clearly has more than two leaves, but this is only a cunning adaptation of Welwitschia. Trying to shade as large an area of ​​the earth around the roots as possible, the plant begins to zhelevat (divide) the leaves into narrow ribbon-like pieces up to 1.5 meters long. Over time, the tapes dry out and die, but at the same time they fully cope with the task assigned to them - they create a shadow and do not waste precious moisture.

in fact, the plant has only two leaves, divided into ribbon-like pieces

Velvichia amazing grows in the western part of the desert Namib in Angola and Namibia. The Namib is one of the harshest deserts in the world; precipitation here is no more than 15 mm per year, with all 15 mm falling in 2 months; the remaining 10 months of the year in the coastal part of the Namib are dry as hell. How then does a plant manage to survive with such large leaves How's Velvichia? How and where does it get the water it needs to live? The discoverer of this plant is a botanist Friedrich Welwich suggested that it takes water from underground groundwater. But as it turned out later, the groundwater here is so deep that only camel thorns, whose roots go 40 meters down, can reach them. Velvichia has relatively short roots - 2-3 meters, no more. The secret of Velvichia was found in its special leaves. The entire surface of leaves as hard as a tree is densely strewn stomata, capable of incredibly efficiently collecting moisture from water coming from Atlantic Ocean morning and evening fogs. The amount of moisture collected from fogs is equivalent to 50 mm of rain falling daily. This ability was studied only in the middle of the 20th century; before that, no one could have imagined that such hard, almost wooden leaves were capable of something like this.

Velvichia is amazing - it's real dinosaur plant, it appeared on Earth long before the appearance of humans and even before mammals. In addition, it can also boast of a very long life - about 1200-1300 years, and the oldest individual recently turned 1500 years old.

The largest known specimen of Velvichia with a height of 1.4 m and a diameter of more than 4 m, age - more than 1500 years

A common misconception is that Velvichia is often mistaken for herbaceous plant, in reality it is a tree. The trunk, although not high - up to 80 cm in height, about half of which is underground, but can reach 120 cm in diameter. It is covered with a strong and dense bark 2 cm thick. The rosette and, accordingly, the top of the trunk can be wider than 1.5 meters in diameter.

Here it is unique plant this Velvichia. Thanks to an incredible thirst for life, it found a way to survive in one of the harshest places on our planet. It is unlike any other plant. It is truly amazing in every way.

Bulldozer - Apr 22nd, 2015

Once, while traveling in southwestern Africa, the Austrian traveler and naturalist Friedrich Welwitsch came across quite strange plant, which from a distance he mistook for a pile of garbage. Coming closer, the scientist discovered a kind of stump of an unfamiliar plant with a diameter of about a meter, from which long leaves extended. At first it seemed to the traveler that there were a lot of leaves, but after taking a closer look, he discovered only two leaves, torn by the wind into long strips. English botanist Joseph Hooker later called it amazing plant Welwitschia in honor of its discoverer.

It should be noted that the amazing Welwitschia is the only representative of a single species that lives only in the African Namib Desert on the Atlantic coast. The Welwitschia root can reach up to 3 meters, but it does not absorb water as much as other plants, but rather acts as an anchor, holding the plant in the desert sands. Two leaves emerge from a short woody stem, reaching a length of 6 m, and growing throughout the life of the plant, adding 8-15 cm every year. The leaves of Welwitschia, which resemble boards to the touch, are covered with numerous stomata, with the help of which the plant absorbs during fog. moisture. It is interesting that fresh wood of the Velvichia stem drowns in water, and dry wood burns without smoke.

The Bushmen call Velvichia “otzhi tumbo” - big master. In the harsh conditions of the African desert, not every plant can survive, but Welwitschia not only survives, but is also considered a long-liver. Its age can reach up to 2000 years. Velvichia – relict tree- a dwarf who has survived many eras. It already existed when dinosaurs roamed our planet.
This life expectancy and the plant’s adaptability to arid desert conditions place Welwitschia among the extraordinary plants that require protection. In Namibia, the plant is strictly protected, prohibiting the collection of Welwitschia seeds without special permission. Velvichia is considered national symbol Namibia and its image appears on the coat of arms of this country.

There are many plants in the world that have adapted to the harsh conditions of hot deserts. All plants growing in arid regions of the Earth are united in a group called xerophytes. The most famous of them are cacti and succulents, which are grown by many as houseplants. However, in the group of xerophytes there are plants that few have heard of, and only a few have seen with their own eyes.

One of these plants is Velvichia amazing, an extremely pronounced representative of xerophytes. Velvichia deserves an amazing name, as well as the title of Queen of the Desert, if only because she is unlike any other famous plants in the world. She is one of a kind. The Velvichiaceae order includes only one family, one genus, one species - this, in fact, is Velvichia amazing.
Her life form can in no way be called grass, bush, or tree, although botanical classification it is designated as a relict tree. You can see how Velvichia grows only by going to the south of Angola or Namibia, rocky Namib Desert, a narrow strip stretching along the coast West Africa. But if you are lucky, you can meet her in some greenhouse, because... Recently they began to cultivate it.

The scientific world learned about Velvichia not so long ago, only in the 19th century. And it was found by the Austrian professor of botany Friedrich Welwitsch. In the process of studying the Angolan flora, he came across unusual plant. Having seen various representatives of the flora in his life, it seemed to the professor that such a thing was impossible to come up with.
He saw something similar to a stump or a lignified oval-shaped stump with a diameter of more than a meter, from which two huge brown-green leaves emanated in both directions. Velvich carefully unfolded and measured one sheet - it turned out to be more than 2 m. Frequently strong winds the leaves were torn into many thin ribbons, which were tangled and intertwined, reminiscent of the tentacles of an octopus. Subsequently, botanists called this discovery the discovery of the century.

From a distance it seems that Velvichia has a lot long leaves, but in fact there are only two of them, and they grow throughout it plant life, adding 8-15 cm per year. IN scientific works a giant was described with leaves more than 6 m long and about 2 m wide. And its life expectancy is so long that it’s hard to believe. Although Velvichia is considered a tree, it does not have annual rings, like those on tree trunks. Scientists determined the age of individual, largest Velvichia using the radiocarbon method - it turned out that some specimens are about 2000 years old!
Most of the wide trunk of Velvichia is underground; it protrudes only 30-50 cm above the surface. Moreover, the trunk narrows towards the bottom and turns into a thick tap root, sometimes reaching three meters in length. It turns out that this dwarf tree grows downward! After all, in ordinary trees the thinnest part of the trunk is the top.

How does this plant survive in the driest desert conditions? Some places in the Namib receive no more than 25 mm of rain per year. At first, scientists had a theory that the plant’s root reached groundwater, but it turned out to be false. This is where another amazing feature of Velvichia leaves was revealed - the ability to absorb moisture.
Over the entire area of ​​the leaves, with the exception of the dried tips, there is an incredible number of stomata (22,000 per 1 cm²), which “open” when thick fog arrives on the coast. Moisture, condensing on the leaves, is absorbed by these very stomata. Condensation provides Velvichia required quantity moisture equivalent to 50 mm of precipitation. Fogs are common in this area of ​​Africa - they cover the coast almost 300 days a year. Winds blowing from the Atlantic Ocean drive the fog 80-100 km inland. Therefore, in those places where the fog does not reach, Velvichia does not occur, because there she will simply die.
Velvichia is amazing - a proud young lady. Instead of social plant life, she prefers a solitary existence, i.e. it does not grow as a group. Velvichia's flowers look like small cones, and each female cone (the plant is dioecious) contains only one seed, and each seed is equipped with wide wings. As for pollination, botanists have differing opinions. Some believe that pollination is carried out by insects, while others are more inclined to the action of wind
Welwitschia is protected by the Namibian Nature Conservation Act. Collecting its seeds is prohibited without special permission. The entire territory where Velvichia grows was turned into National Park Namib-Naukluft. Of course, such a miracle of nature needs protection. To the tough natural conditions she has adapted, but to human rapacity...



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