Nature and Art, August 1, 18GG.] 
THE WELWITSCHIA MIRABILIS. 
71 
and on the 2oth of the same month I had the goo.d 
fortune to fall in with a splendid specimen of the 
gigantic yellow-flowering aloe, of which, as Dr. 
Hooker has very kindly granted me access to the 
drawings I presented to the national collection at 
Ivew, I hope shortly to he able to furnish you with 
a figure. 
On my return to Walvisch Bay I entrusted my 
specimens to Mr. Latham, for conveyance to my 
friend Logier, who, on the 18th of December, re- 
ceived permission to hand them over to the Colonial 
Office to be forwarded to the Royal Botanic Gardens 
at Ivew. 
In due time my friend received the following 
letter, which, however, from the difficulty of com- 
munication, I had no opportunity of seeing till my 
young friend, E. Barry, met with it, in a parcel of 
newspapers forwarded to me, at Lake ISTgarni, on 
my return with Mr. Chapman from the Zambesi 
in 1863 
“ Kew Gardens , London , 
“ To F. Logier, Esq. 1862. 
“ Dear Sir, — I am extremely obliged to you for 
so kindly forwarding me the excellent drawings 
and specimens of plants from my friend Mr. 
Baines. The specimen of the aloe was quite dead 
and rotten, but the other plant has given me 
uncommon pleasure, inasmuch as, old a botanist as 
I am, I never saw it before, nor has more than one 
person ever done so ; that person is Dr. Welwitsch, 
a German botanist, long resident at Loando. He 
made a journey south of that territory, and, in a 
letter to me, described the new plant so accurately 
that, the moment my son, Dr. Hooker, and I saw 
Mr. Baines’s specimens and drawings, we both said’ 
that must be Dr. Welwitsch’s new plant. We 
shall now be able to publish an account of it. 
“ Mr. Baines has not done me the favour to 
write to me, so that I take the liberty to inclose 
my note of acknowledgment to you, as I have no 
idea in what part of Africa he is. 
“The drawings of the great tree-aloe are also 
most interesting ; but the species is certainly not 
the dichotoma, as Dr. Ecklon suspects, but probably 
a new species. Ex Africd semper aliquwl novum. 
“ Yours very faithfully, and with many thanks, 
“W. J. Hooker.” 
Sir William also wrote a letter requesting farther 
information, and, in my absence, Mr. Logier 
forwarded it to Mr. C. J. Andersson, then in 
Otjimbengue, requesting him to forward a perfect 
specimen. This was brought down on the 15th of 
September, 1862, planted with its native soil in 
a flour-barrel by Mr. Latham, who, finding my 
friend at that time an invalid, very kindly conveyed 
it on board the mail-steamer on the 22nd. 
In reference to this specimen, Mr. Andersson, 
dating from Otjimbengue, February 12th, 1862, 
gave the following interesting particulars : — 
“ The plant you inquire about, and which has so 
awakened your curiosity, is well known to me. 
Indeed, it is so peculiar as scarcely to be mistaken 
even from the rudest description. 
“ It is only found in one single locality, which is 
exceedingly circumscribed ; that is, as regards 
Damara Land. It grows in sandy places, and luxu- 
riates when it can find a few stones to fix its extra- 
ordinary tap-root, penetrating often several feet 
deep, so that it is indeed a work of labour and 
patience to extract one single plant. I have been 
thus occupied more than an hour, and even then 
have come away with only a part of the root. 
“ The leaves attain a length of several feet, a 
small portion only of the point being withered, in 
other respects they are evergreen ; they are straight- 
grained, and you can tear them from top to bottom 
without deviating a single line from a straight 
course. 
“ Rain rarely or never falls where this plant 
exists. I have crossed and recrossed Damara Land 
through its entire length and breadth, but only 
found it growing on that desperately-arid flat 
stretching far and wide about Walvisch Bay, or 
between the 22nd and 23rd degrees of south 
latitude. 
“It is most common about the lower course of 
the River Swakop ; but my description is very in- 
adequate, and I shall endeavour to procure the 
plant itself, and forward it at an early date to 
England. 
“ Indeed, I would have sent it years ago, had I 
not been under the impression that you already had 
specimens; for I assisted Mr. Wollaston once to 
excavate a couple, which I thought he purposed 
presenting to Kew. I know that they were re- 
ceived at the Botanical Garden at Cape Town, for 
I saw them there only the other day.” 
In the Botanical Magazine of March 1st, 1863, 
it is thus noticed - 
WELWITSCHIA mirabilis. (Tabb. 5368, 5369.) 
African Welwitschia. 
Nat. Ord. Gnetaceas. Polygamia monadelphia. 
Gen. Charr.—Squamce strobili homogami 4-fariam im- 
bricate, perplurimse floriferoe, fructifer® valde auct®. Flores 
hermaphroditi et foeminei. Fl. Herm. Periantliivm 4-phyl- 
lum, foliolis 2-seriatis, inferioribus connatis. Stamina 6, 
monadelphia ; anther® 3-loculares. Ovuli integumentum 
disco stigmatiformi terminatum. Fl. Fcem. Periantlnum 
ampullaceum, compressissimum, 2-alatum. Ovulum maris, 
sed processu styliformi recto apice simplici lacero. Fructus 
siccus, squamis membranaceis strobili velatus. — Truncus 
obconicus, lignosus. Folia 2, opposita, longissime linearia , 
dilacerata, nervis parallelis. — IPoolc. fil. 
Welwitschia mirabilis. 
Welwitschia mirabilis. Hoolc. fil . in Trans, of Linn. 
Soe. v. 24, p. 1, cum tabulis I. — XIY. 
“ The old adage, ‘ Semper aliquid novi ex Africa 
provenire,’ holds good in the present day as in 
times long gone by. It is little more than two 
years and a half since the first knowledge of this 
singular plant (the subject of our two plates) * 
reached Europe, in a letter addressed to myself by 
its discoverer, Dr. Frederick Welwitsch, a talented 
* See Botanical Magazine , March 1st, 1863, 
