CHAPTER XVIII 

 CONIFEROPHYTES-GNETALES— WELWITSCHIA 



The most bizarre of all gymnosperms, if not of all seed plants, is 

 Welwitschia (fig. 365). It has been found only in the coastal region 

 of Southwest Africa, north and south of Walvis Bay, with northern 





Fig. 365. — Welioilschia mirabilis: lar^e ovulate plant, about 20 miles cast of Walvis 

 Bay, on the Namib plateau. — From a photograph by Pk.\rson. 



limit 14° S. latitude and the southern, near Hope Mine, 22° 85' S. 

 latitude, the only extra-tropical station yet reported. So the range, 

 north and south, is about 700 miles. In some places plants have been 

 observed within a few meters of the sea, and they are seldom found 

 more than 20 miles inland. Dr. Welwitsch discovered the plant in 



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