Welwitschia mirabilis

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

Welwitschia mirabilis
    n 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 [syn:
         {welwitschia}, {Welwitschia mirabilis}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Welwitschia \Wel*witsch"i*a\, n. [NL. So named after the
   discoverer, Dr. Friedrich Welwitsch.] (Bot.)
   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.
   [1913 Webster]

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