>Welwitschia. Division Pinophyta (conifers) Gymnospermous plants; mostly trees with abundant xylem composed of tracheids only; resin ducts present; leaves simple, needlelike, scalelike, with a single vein or, less commonly, strap-shaped with multiple veins; reproduction by well-defined cones; seeds exposed on

…environments, such as the two-leaved Welwitschia of the Namib Desert, have evolved extensive root systems that absorb subsurface water from a great volume of adjacent soil.

Welwitschia, restricted to extreme deserts (less than 25 mm [1 inch] of rain per year) in a narrow belt about 1,000 km (600 miles) long in southwestern Africa, is an unusual plant composed of an enormous underground stem and a pair of long strap-shaped leaves…

…is the bizarre conifer relative welwitschia in the Namib Desert of southwestern Africa. Welwitschia has only two leaves, which are leathery, straplike organs that emanate from the middle of a massive, mainly subterranean woody stem. These leaves grow perpetually from their bases and erode progressively at their ends. This desert…