Welwitschiaceae

Welwitschia is a monotypic genus of gnetophytes containing only the species Welwitschia mirabilis. It is named after the Austrian botanist Friedrich Welwitsch, who documented the plant in the 1850s. In common use, it is sometimes referred to as the tree tumbo. It is native to Angola and Namibia, where it grows in the extreme conditions of the Namib desert, tolerating high heat and low precipitation. Welwitschia is the only living genus of the family Welwitschiaceae and order Welwitschiales, and is one of three extant genera of gnetophytes, alongside Gnetum and Ephedra.

Welwitschiaceae is a family of plants of the order Gnetales with one living species, Welwitschia mirabilis, found in southwestern Africa. Three fossil genera have been recovered from the Crato Formation – late Aptian (Lower Cretaceous) strata located in the Araripe Basin in northeastern Brazil, with one of these also being known from the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) Akrabou Formation of Morocco.

Nambian national forest