Welwitschia: One Of The Oldest Living Plants In The World

Some individuals of this species have been alive since before the foundation of Sparta. This is Welwitschia.

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CREDITS
Created by Dylan Dubeau
Executive Producer, Director, and Director of Photography: Dylan Dubeau
Host: Tasha The Amazon
Editors: Jim Pitts and Cat Senior
Producer: Andres Salazar
Writer: Lauren Greenwood
Camera Operator: Colin Cooper

Music From Audio Network:
Warring Spartans
Giving It The Shpiel
Il Ritorno
Waltz Detective
Di Me
Savoir Faire

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Exploring the World of Plants and Fungi.

[BazzBrother]

Welwichia has all the aspects of a Dark Souls character: weird name, ancient, looks undead, probably a cthulu beast if ever hit by anyone.

[geo]

When I visited Namibia, we were lucky enough to see loads of these plants. Honestly they're huge and kinda crazy 😂

[edwardnewgate]

I'm so happy you are talking about Welwitschia, I'm from Angola an African country, and this plant is kinda one of our national symbols so, Thank you

[Ghost]

What about a video on olive wood trees? They are also really old as their seeds drop near the base of the tree and as they grow, they merge into the main trunk and become the "new trunk" which will forever repeat, thus becoming essentially immortal.

[Alexander-pmzx]

Being a namibian myself I love to watch these sorts of videos about my countries own flora and fauna, the information is almost always correct except for the pronunciations since the names were typically first written in the afrikaans language where Ws are pronounced as Vs, Vs as Fs, and Fs as Fs. So here we pronounce it as vel-vitch-ia, and namibia as nah-mi-bia

10/10 video, keep up the awesome content 👍🏽

[christmassnow]

Welwitschia is a Gymnosperm, like the distantly related conifers, Cycas, Ginkgo, Gnetum and Ephedras. Also the Ginkgo Biloba is the sole survivor of its family and even its order. It is worth noting how those two species survived while the other species in their respective families were gone extinct.

[andyandy-ymco]

I want to share my experience in growing welwichia, and actually this is crazy for me I didn't think I grew it, I bought the seeds from a flower shop in Thailand I thought it was a scam but I bought them anyway, I tried to grow them but I feel like a failure after waiting for more than a month, but I was surprised it suddenly grew like a spinach seed it has two baby leaves, I'm very happy, but not long ago i noticed the leaf had yellow spots, i thought i would kill it but it grew, after that I started asking why my welwichia has strange leaves and it turned out to be varigated I did not expect that I grew this unique plant in the varigated form I can't wait for it to become a beautiful mature plant

[teeteestar]

The welwitschia plant reminds me of the cycle of life: birth, death, and rebirth. It keeps on growing new leaves even as the old ones wither.

[tylerjones]

Can you do a video on the jaboticaba tree? They are fascinating califlourus fruiting trees native to South America.

[demetrialowther]

My request plant!

I think it should have been mentioned the weird nature of their 'infinite leaves' as well because the cellular growth stuff is pretty weird too. In simple terms, the 'stem cells' that most plants have at the centre of the stem, that keep progressing the plant's growth forward via adding more stem and leaves, just die when its a seedling and instead manifest at the leaf bases. So In theory it 'could' be a tree with multiple leaves, but none ever get to develop past 2 leaves (maybe it was a defect they adapted around, maybe it was advantageous?). Its literally a tree stump that cut itself down.

But what really fascinates me is their phylogenetics (and subsequently how I discovered them with the observation of a 'what the f*ck is that group doing out there by itself?'). They fall into the division 'Gnetophyta' along with only two other surviving genera (Ephedra and Gnetum, who look nothing like each other I might add), but this Gnetophyta division is just 'odd'. Its those little cone clusters that are part of the mess (no flowers, just little cones, like a pine tree). Many would probably remember the crude plant groups of 'conifers' vs 'flowering plants' (with the latter having the crude distinctions of 'dicot' vs 'monocot'), but then there's Gentophyta just fluffing about somewhere in the middle with the conifer's cones and the angiosperm's vessel elements. They've been all over the plant phylogenetic tree and even today with modern genetics and the general consensus they lean to the basal conifers, they still refuse to make any sense. They're the glitch in the system. A tiny, chaotic family of barely-related rebel genera, somehow clinging to existence amid a world of 'modern' plants, long past their time in this world, just long enough to baffle and cause ire to humans and our attempts to make order of the world.

If I might suggest some future video ideas for plants I think are pretty interesting, unique, etc.
- Amborella - A weird basal Angiosperm from New Caledonia (that island is a botanical wonderland of basal groups and weirdness)
- Parasitaxus - Weirdness galore! The only known conifer to evolve as a parasite. A red-grey, shrivelled wonder... also from New Caledonia.
- Nothofagus gunnii - An Antarctic hold-out, hiding in the mountains of Tasmania. Australia's only native winter-deciduous species and an icon of Tasmanian flora, not just for the stunning autumn display it puts on in a country not know for its autumns.
- Wollemi Pine - A fossil discovered to still be alive in a secret valley near Sydney. The story of this species is fascinating (Jurassic Park for botanists, just imagining the feelings when they realised what it was they were looking at). It seems every botanic garden in Australia will have one now, planted alone in pride of place with an interpretive panel detailing its incredible story.

[GxgajsjY]

"it's not the prettiest" "it's not the easiest on the eyes" am I the only one who thinks it's gorgeous 😭

[mikeyangel]

I can totally see this plant saying "do not cite the deep magic to me witch, I was there when it was written"

[GoEvenHarder]

The music made me think that the plant would scream at any moment

[elilivezey]

its insane to think how long these have lived, but even more crazy to think about how long it took to evolve!

[marianocolsin]

Welswitchia looks like that plant Ina surviving videogame that is very common and has little use but is also essential for the Start of the game so it has to be very distinguishable from anything else

[WilliamOfUrnge]

This is one of my favorite plants!! A friend of mine is growing a few in his greenhouse! You should make a video on the Dragon's blood tree in Yemen!

[Skibbityboo]

I actually think it's quite beautiful!

[aestinoct]

I remember first learning about these things a couple of years ago, but everywhere I looked online, there was hardly any information on them and I've had them in the back of my mind since. I had no idea they were so cool! Thanks for opening my eyes to these crazy desert octopi and givin em some love.

[starshocker]

These videos'll never cease to amaze me. We learn so much from them and this is much appreciated 👍. Always been a nature lover.

[KareemHarper]

So as a '78 kid that grew up in a flora jungles mom would nurture that I haven't learned to appreciate until now... Please, Sister Amazon, keep making these videos. I am still playing catchup to make a specific request, but fully support and endorse this endeavor to supplement fauna continent on #Animalogic.

This has been years of amazing content that deserves more love.

Bravo y'all.