Welwitschia mirabilis, the Braveheart of desert life

Not much else may be found growing around a Namib Welwitschia mirabilis plant. Not much can get this big here, and nothing else can live as long under such conditions. Apart from a desert life expectancy that may exceed two thousand years, there are fossil records of ancestors of W. mirabilis that existed over one hundred million years ago.

Living alone like this may have added some centuries to the plant's lifespan. If friends can't reach you, the chances are that enemies can't either. Plants in general don’t suffer from loneliness, as far as we know. So, lacking company is not life-threatening or life-diminishing for them. As long as it does not interfere with setting seed. If there is another Welwitschia of the other sex within insect reach, the exceptional endurance that may follow has meaning, the partner bringing the possibility of reproduction. Common parlance of our time might have such a long life as an exceptional journey; albeit that all of it is spent in the same place.

It is notable that W. mirabilis appears on Namibia’s coat of arms: A stylized version of the plant is positioned at the base of that design. The plant was chosen for its endurance in the desert, and for its role in spirit as an emblem of the nation (Mannheimer and Curtis, (Eds.), 2009; iNaturalist; Wikipedia; https://en.jardineriaon.com).