Welwitschia

Welwitschia is a monotypic genus of gymnosperm plant, comprised solely of the very distinct Welwitschia mirabilis. It is the only genus of the family Welwitschiaceae, in the order Welwitschiales, in the division Gnetophyta. The plant is considered a living fossil. The geographic distribution of Welwitschia mirabilis is limited to south-west Africa, specifically, to the Namib desert within the two countries, Namibia and Angola.
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Noun
1. curious plant of arid regions of southwestern Africa having a yard-high and yard-wide trunk like a turnip with a deep taproot and two large persistent woody straplike leaves growing from the base; living relic of a flora long disappeared; some may be 700-5000 years old
(synonym) Welwitschia mirabilis
(hypernym) gymnosperm
(member-holonym) genus Welwitschia, genus Welwitchia

(n.)
An African plant (Welwitschia mirabilis) belonging to the order Gnetaceae. It consists of a short, woody, topshaped stem, and never more than two leaves, which are the cotyledons enormously developed, and at length split into diverging segments.