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We’ve all heard that cockroaches will one day inherit the Earth if the wrong button in the bunker gets pushed, but what about the plant life?

Steph at WebEcoist has found a terrifying collection of plants that possess superpowers that would put any man in tights to shame.

Weltwitschia mirabilis: Practically Immortal (above)

Weltwitschia mirabilis is definitely among the world’s weirdest plants, with just two leaves, a stem base and roots. It appears to have many more leaves because they grow very long, often looping around each other and tearing into strips. Most have a life span of about 400 to 1500 years, but some live up to 2,000 years. Found in the deserts of Namibia and southern Angolia, the plant survives in this environment by collection condensation from fog and reaching underground water with its long taproot.

Purple Saxifrage: Blooms at Below Zero

This record-breaking plant was found close to the summit of Dom, the third highest peak of the Swiss Alps. At 14,780 feet, this doesn’t quite reach the altitude of India’s Mount Kamet in the Western Himalayas, at which another flowering plant was found – but conditions for purple saxifrage in the Alps are much more grueling. Temperatures drop below zero every night, and the ground is free of snow for only two months out of ever year. That means purple saxifrage needs only 600 hours of temperatures above 3 degrees every year in order to survive.

Full story at WebEcoist.

Strange nature.