Weird , peculiar , wonderful , strange , bizarre , fascinating , and unequaled are words used to describeWelwitschia . This plant is one of the few things on Earth that can really take to be one of a variety . There really is nothing like it .
Welwitschia mirabilisis the only appendage of the familyWelwitschiaceae . It was named after Friedrich Welwitsch , an Austrian natural scientist who explored Africa in the 1800s . Welwitschiais the most incredible works that he run into . It is aboriginal to a slip of land about 50 miles wide and over 500 mile in duration along the coast of the Namib Desert .
This plant gets less than 1 inch ( 2.5 cm ) of rainfall per year in its habitat . But because of a stale coastal ocean current , this area also receives a regular fog , bestow almost another 2 inches ( 5 cm ) of downfall . As a effect , this plant in nature is slow - grow and can endure to be 2000 old age old ! It is a learn plant with manlike and distaff strobile on freestanding plants . It create only two dead on target leaves in its life-time , which continually develop from the base while dying back and drying off at the tips .
Photo via botanyphoto.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca
Welwitschiais not a truesucculent , but succulent cultivator and partizan are most interested in it . It is caudiciform yet is not often included in accounts of these plants as it belongs in the " wrong " family !
When growingWelwitschia , there are a few significant factors to consider : the long taproot , its dependence on extra moisture , and the soil used . plant from arid regions are often lost to a fungal infection because of dirt with mellow constitutive content . Therefore , it is safer to use a sandy mixture , piddle more frequently , and give subsidiary feedings . It is also recommended to employ sterilized soil . one-time plant tend to accumulate constituent debris around themselves , which enrich the grunge and acts as a mulch , help to keep on weewee in the upper layers of the moxie for foresighted .
semen should be sow during the warm calendar month , fountain or summer . In habitat , the seeds are dispersed in outflow but have to hold off for the rain to fall before germinating . It is upright to sow in seed into a large , bass , at least 12 inches ( 30 cm ) , preferably more , container or into an open bed where the plant is intended to remain because the taproot grows quite fast in the initial stages . Thesoilmust be sandy and well - drained , e.g. , two percentage sand , one part loam , one part compost ( folio mold ) with ample bonemeal , well miscellaneous and desexualise . Moisten the dirt exhaustively before sowing . If using a container , sow two or three seeds per container near the centre . If more than one germinates , it can be graft in its first calendar month or left to form interesting bribery complex with its sibling . If you have an clear layer , disperse them equally over the surface . Place the ejaculate on top of the soil and get over it with a stratum of moxie . water system well and keep in a warm , sunny post . Add a mild antimycotic agent , like Captan , to the weewee during the first twelvemonth to keep fungous onslaught . Keep the soil moist until the seeds have pullulate .
The placement of the ungerminated and germinating seedling is also important . opt a well - aerated , warm atmosphere , sooner in filter sun . This plant is very raw to sudden changes in light intensity . Never move the works from a shady office to full sun ; the leaves will burn , and it may never recover and die . So when strike your plant , check that that you gradually harden it off to hopeful light .
At first glance , it would appear thatWelwitschiawould be almost unsufferable to arise , but this is only partly true . This plant can be grown easily , even as a potty plant , on windowsills and verandas in cooler mood . Once established , the plant will mature steady and is comparatively disease - free . The most of the essence stage is during its first eight months after germination when it is prone to fungal onset . Also , as it is not a true succulent , it should not be treated as one . It depends on additional water from its beginning , and if raise in a deal , charge should be taken so that the soil does not dry out all .
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