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# welwitschia

noun (a welwitschia, welwitschias)

«welwitschia» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. A very strange desert plant from Namibia and Angola in south-west Africa that has only two long, leathery leaves. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/welwitschia/#m1)
2. The leaves keep growing from the base for its whole life, getting torn and curled into a messy heap. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/welwitschia/#m2)
3. Some welwitschias are thought to be well over a thousand years old. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/welwitschia/#m3)

### In the lessons

In science lessons it is an example of how plants adapt to deserts: it gets water from fog and has deep roots. In nature books it is called a «living fossil» because it is very old and unusual. It appears on the coat of arms of Namibia.

### Examples

- The welwitschia has only two leaves, but they never stop growing. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/welwitschia/#x1)
- Our teacher showed us a picture of a welwitschia in the Namib Desert. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/welwitschia/#x2)
- The welwitschia drinks water from the morning fog. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/welwitschia/#x3)
- Some welwitschias may be over a thousand years old. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/welwitschia/#x4)
- The leaves of the welwitschia look like a tangled pile of ribbons. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/welwitschia/#x5)
- Kew Gardens in London grows a welwitschia in a glasshouse. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/welwitschia/#x6)

### Note

Say «wel-WITCH-ee-uh». It is named after Friedrich Welwitsch, the botanist who described it. Myth: it looks like many leaves, but it really has just two that split into strips. Plural: welwitschias.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «welwitschia» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/welwitschia/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«welwitschia» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/welwitschia.html) on Mova free.