If you look at most pictures of Welwitschia, it doesn't look much like a tree.
It looks like the stuff you throw in the garbage after you made the salad.
However, Two thirds of the trunk of a Welwitschia is underground. The two
permanent leaves grow out of the top, and the cones appear between them. Since
it has a permanent woody trunk, I believe it fits the definition of a tree.
Look, it works. Some Welwitschias are 1500 to 2000 years old.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)