Friedrich Martin Josef Welwitsch was an Austrian explorer and botanist who in Angola was the first European to describe the plant Welwitschia mirabilis. His report received wide attention among the botanists and general public, comparable only to the discovery of two other plants in the 19th century, namely Victoria amazonica and Rafflesia arnoldii.
Friedrich Welwitsch
Tonhof in Maria Saal, the birthplace of Friedrich Welwitsch
Welwitschia mirabilis was discovered and named after Friedrich Welwitsch
Welwitschia is a monotypic genus of gymnosperm, the sole described species being the distinctive Welwitschia mirabilis, endemic to the Namib desert within Namibia and Angola. Welwitschia is the only living genus of the family Welwitschiaceae and order Welwitschiales in the division Gnetophyta, and is one of three living genera in Gnetophyta, alongside Gnetum and Ephedra. Informal sources commonly refer to the plant as a "living fossil".
Welwitschia
Female cones, from Curtis's Botanical Magazine (1863)
A female plant
A female Welwitschia beginning to shed seeds