welwitschia: 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
gymnosperm: plants of the class Gymnospermae having seeds not enclosed in an ovary
argon: a colorless and odorless inert gas; one of the six inert gases; comprises approximately 1% of the earth's atmosphere