The Ancient Welwitschia Mirabilis

A detailed botanical photograph of a Welwitschia mirabilis, Namibia's famous "living fossil," growing in the arid desert plains. The plant’s two permanent, leather-like leaves are torn and curled into a tangled heap by centuries of desert winds, surrounding the central woody stem. Some of these unique gymnosperms are estimated to be over 1,500 years old, surviving solely on the moisture from the Atlantic fogs that roll across the Namib.