Me and a giant plant
from Messum Crater, Namibia.
Photo by
Ferdinand Poilodan.
The carrot-like
root ends in a fine, very long root, seeking for underground
water. It is said not to survive re-potting, unless a lot of soil
is preserved. I have np problems at all!
My plant
have been repottet five times. Stop growing for a month, and
kick in again like nothing have happened.
The root of a four year old
seedling, repottet for the third time. Not that pole shaped and extreme long
root, as the roomers
claims. The leaves are 20 centimetres total, it now thrives in a
six centimetre shallow pot.
This seedling have done real
fine, growing in this disposable wineglass. Here,
it is half a year.
And is still doing fine after
15 months.
And three years. No problems
at all! Same soil. Just sitting in my kitchen window without any
heating or artificial light. Down to 12C at wintertime.
Seedlings just when the true
leaves emerges. Plants for tissue culture.
The roots after half a year
are long, plentiful but thin.
Repottet, and doing fine. One
root was cut down to 2 centimetres - no probelm!
No one have done it before,
as fare as I can detect, but I succeeded: Tissue culture! |
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The only member of the Welwitschiaceae
family was described by Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1862. It's only found
in the Namib Desert; Angola and Namibia.
Well-drained grit, no or
little water (mist is fine) and lots of sun. The root can grow to 20
centimetres in diameter and the two leaves to 3 meters (in theory; to several
hundreds of meters, if taken care of). The "flowers" are
yellow to red
cones.
It was discovered in 1860 by Austrian Friedrich Welwitsch (1806-1872).
It is a dioecious
plant, and can get op to maybe 2000 years old. Will only set cones
when the temperature reaches 38 C.
It will never get more than to leaves (after the seed leaves), and they grow up to 15 cm a year.
The widest known is 180 cm wide, and the longest 6 meter, but only half
of it lives. It's 1,5 cm thick. The root goes down to 30 meters.
Here is a great site for more info: Anna
E. Senters and an
other: Plantzafrica.
And my own project on growing Welwitschia from
seeds.
And in Danish, if you prefer!
Plenty of photos from the wild
on:
Namibia.
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Typical habitat right outside Messum Crater, Namibia.
Close-up of
wild male
cone in flower.
Wild male cone in flower.
The stem are visible on some plants.
An other
habitat photo from Namibia.
And the female cones, early
stage.
Female cone flowering.
And ripen. 
The
seed leaf is still visible. 
From Copenhagen Botanical Garden. Growing in a heated bed in the
orchid house.
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