A Welwitschia mirabilis plant grows in sandy soil in the Namib-Naukluft Park, east of Swakopmund. These curious desert plants have deep taproots yet receive most of their moisture from condensed sea fog. They live upwards of one hundred years and are very slow growing. From the base of their cone-shaped trunks grow two broad leaves extending ten feet or so.The plant is named after the Austrian botanist Friedrich Welwitsch who collected a large specimen east of Swakopmund in 1859. Purros