Ill 



Plate 21. 

 Fam. 4. Gnetaceae. 



Welwitschia Bainesii (Hook, fil.) Carriere {Welwitschia mirabilis Hook. fil.). 



1. Male plant of medium size in flower. 1/5 nat. size. 



2. Young female inflorescence, about half grown. Nat. size. 



3. Femate bud, the ovule, which is not fully developed as yet, shining through the 

 perianth. 20/1. 



4. Male inflorescence, some flowers open. Nat. size. 



5. Male flower, showing the 6 stamens. 6/1. 



6. Abortive pistil from male flower. 6/1. 



7. Pollen grain. 250/1. 



8. Ripe cone, showing the shrivelled micropylar tubes projecting between the scales. 



This curious plant was originally discovered (1865) by Fr. Welwitsch 

 in the desert plains of Southern Angola, South East of Mossamedes, where its 

 native name is " N'tumbo." He proposed the name Tumboa and in honour 

 of the famous African traveller T. Baines the specific name " Bainesii." 

 Subsequently Sir Joseph Hooker published an exhaustive monograph of the 

 plant under the name of Welwitschia mirabilis ; hence although the latter name 

 may be better known at present, conformity with international rules requires 

 the adoption of the prior specific designation. 



Soon afterwards the plant was observed by Baines in the rocky country 

 between the rivers Khan and Swakop, about 20 miles due East from the mouth 

 of the latter river, and subsequently it was recorded from the neighbourhood 

 of the Kuisib river, South of the Tropic of Capricorn. Another locality exists 

 about 60 miles to the North East of Swakopmund near the isolated mountain 

 called Spitzkopje. 



It is not improbable that some other colonies of the plant do exist in some 

 unexplored parts of the Namib* or the Kaoko region. At the principal 

 southern locality it occurs in a narrow strip of country only a few miles broad 

 and about 10 miles long, extending from the neighbourhood of the former 

 railway station " Welwitsch " to Heikamchab on the Swakop. According to 

 the information given me by Dr Voit, there are several thousand plants in 

 that strip, but very few young ones have been observed by him, while some of 

 the older specimens have assumed very curious shapes. On the other hand 

 numerous young plants, with crowns from two inches in diameter upwards, 

 have been observed by Mr C. Bohr a little to the North East of Cape Cross, 

 near a hill called Mont Durissa. 



The Welwitschia is of great scientific interest, being the most highly 

 developed gymnospermous plant known to us either in the living or the fossil 

 state. It is not a connecting link between the gymnosperms and the 

 angiosperms, but the final stage of a separate line of development of the 

 vegetable kingdom, that, as far as known to us, led no further. 



* The reported occurrence of the plant much further South, viz. in Namaqualand, 

 about 20 miles from the railway station Tschaukaib, is due to some misunderstanding. 

 (From verbal information by Dr P. Range.) 



