This is the story of Frederico and his encounter with a special plant that lives in the African desert.
Frederico Welwitsch (1806-1872) was an Austrian botanist and physician who discovered the Welwitschia plant, which at the time was not called Welwitschia, on September 3, 1859, in the Namib Desert, in Angola.
This story is born from the imagination of a real-life encounter. The author of this text is a historian of science. For several years, she studied drawings, watercolours, diaries and old writings by this botanist and found some amazing things. She discovered that Frederico's diary entries from the day he found Welwitschia still exist! They are kept in an archive at the National Museum of Natural History and Science in Lisbon (MUHNAC, UL). It is clear that Frederico was very excited at that moment. His writing is almost indecipherable. It is clear that he wrote “orelha d'elefant” and Tumboa. It is also clear that, for Frederico, it was an encounter with a wonderful plant.
 Book recommended by the National Reading Plan 2027.