Welwitshcia mirablis In Flower

 Ladies first:  the female Welwitschia is above.  The photo below is of the male Welwitschia. 

A plant that is either male or female is dioecious.  Holly and Asparagus are examples of plants that are also dioecious.  Ginkgo is another--most commercially sold Ginkgo trees are male, because the fruit of the female Ginkgo has a foul odor.  

Plant romance--in this case, of relative youngsters.  The two examples above from the Huntington Desert Conservatory are babes.  If you google up examples in situ from the Namibian desert,  this plant forms a pile of linguini-like foliage as tall as a man's shoulder.

Then there is plant aging.  Ferocactus schwartii starts life very spiny, and matures to a spineless, most elegant silhouette:

 I've long admired this plant, but it was only on our last visit I noticed the tag said "from seed, 1970".

One idea from the recent Succulent symposium was expressed by Tony Avent: that we see plants at this moment in time--they are continuing to evolve to new forms.  In our lifespan, we see only one single frame of an epic film.

We who love plants--isn't it lovely to know they are far more worthy of our love and admiration than we can ever imagine?