Not that you would recognise a tree from reading their description of
Welwitschia mirabilis.

OK. I have given several reasons why Welwitschia is a tree:
1. It is a conifer, in a group where almost all its relatives are trees.
2. It has a single definite woody trunk.
3. It has leaves coming out of the top.
4. It is a perennial.

Incidentally, besides pictures, I have met them personally.
Now tell me why Welwitschia is *not* a tree.

Reading a description of Welwitschia by a German botanist I don't sense any
laughter

German botanists don't count. Do any of them have a sense of humor? (I know one
personally, although he was born in Belgium.)
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)