"living fossil" plant Welwitschia mirabilis,Size in comparison with that of a Caucasian lady. Messum Crater. Damaraland, Namibia

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Welwitschia is a monotypic genus of gymnosperm plant, composed solely of the very distinct Welwitschia mirabilis. The plant is commonly simply known as Welwitschia in English. It is known locally as kharos or khurub (Nama), tweeblaarkanniedood (Afrikaans), nyanka (Damara), or onyanga (Herero), among others. It is the only genus of the family Welwitschiaceae and order Welwitschiales, in the division Gnetophyta. The plant, which is considered a living fossil, is named after the Austrian botanist Friedrich Welwitsch who discovered it in 1859. The geographic distribution of Welwitschia mirabilis is limited to the Namib desert within Namibia and Angola.

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Size: 3996px × 2659px
Location: Africa Namibia Damaraland Messum Crater
Photo credit: © Bert de Ruiter / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: Yes

Keywords: africa, bert, crater, damaraland, de, fossil, giant, horizontal, landscape, living, messum, mirabilis, namibia, plant, ruiter, travel, tweeblaarkanniedood, welwitschia