If you have a bizarre taste in plants, I guarantee that this variety - the third in our series - will be to your liking.

The Welwitschia Mirabilis looks like an alien life form from a science fiction movie. It has a short thick trunk and only two leaves that grow continuously throughout the entire life of the plant.

The leaves can grow to a length of two to three meters and are split into several sections. The stem normally gets thicker than higher although it can grow to six feet high and 24-feet wide.

The long leaves of the plant are equipped with special structures that absorb water from the dew that forms during the night. Both male and female species of the plant produce nectar that attracts insects thus aiding in fertilization.

This tongue-twister is found mainly in the Namib desert in southwest Africa. It's considered a living fossil since it has existed since the Jurassic period.

With that in mind, you never have to worry about losing this plant. The Welwitschia will keep you company for ages since it lives for 1,000 to 2,000 years - more than people do. That makes it a good conversation piece that you can hand down from generation to generation.

"Named after the Slovenian botanist Dr. Friedrich Welwitsch who discovered it in 1860, it is one of the oddest plants in existence. Although considered endangered due to its very slow growth and despite the fact that older plants are often sought by collectors, a fair number of plants exist in the wild. The plants living in Angola are better protected than the plants in Namibia, owing to the relatively high concentration of landmines in Angola, which keep collectors away," according to the editors of Wikipedia.

"The species grows readily from seeds, which may be purchased from specialty seed dealers. The seed must be kept moist for the first couple of weeks and exposed to as much heat and light as possible during this time. Seeds collected from the wild are often heavily contaminated with spores of Aspergillus niger, which causes them to rot shortly after they germinate. Seeds from the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town, South Africa, or other cultivated sources are much cleaner and less likely to rot," they added.