Welwitschia, two leaves for a lifetime

Welwitschia mirabilis lives in the Namib Desert and retains just two leaves as an adult. It is not necessarily a newly sprouted plant: Kew describes living specimens more than a thousand years old. Two leaves can therefore accompany a very long life. [1]

SANBI’s botanical profile explains the apparent trick: the two leaves are broad, leathery and strap-shaped; they keep growing and tear into strips with age. What looks like a heap of leaves is the result of those same two leaves becoming frayed. [2]