Welwitschia is indeed a tree in the botanical sense of the word. Have you
ever seen one in your reality?
They don't grow wild in Toronto.

However, the last time I was in the Royal Botanical Garden in Hamilton, which
is on the way to Toronto, they had one. They even had an olive tree.
As I mentioned before, the reason Welwitschia doesn't look like a tree is that
much of its trunk is underground. It is a member of the order Gnetales, which
may be changed to a subdivision. It is related to Gnetum & Ephedra. They are
peculiar plants somewhere between the angiosperms and gymnosperms, but closer
to the conifers.

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)