While much of the Namibian landscape is characterised by deserts and mountains, the country extends far enough north to have a varied range of plant life. Namibia can be split into four distinct vegetation zones which together support more than 4,000 seed bearing vascular plants, 120 different species of tree, over 200 endemic plant species and 100 varieties of lichen. The zones are defined as follows: the tropical forests and wetlands along the banks of the perennial rivers in the Kavango and Caprivi regions, the savannah plains with occasional trees in the Kalahari, the mountainous escarpment regions such as Kaokoland and Damaraland, and the low altitude coastlands and Namib desert. Savannah cover 64% of Namibia, dry woodlands and forests 20%, while desert vegetation is distributed over 16%.

The Namib desert appears bare of plant life, however, lichens grow in great diversity on west facing slopes and surfaces where they are able to draw moisture from the sea fogs. If it were not for the fog the plants would have no source of water. The plants are now recognised as a vital component of the Namib environment and most areas are protected as many animals rely on the lichen as an important source of water. It is estimated that some of these lichen fields are hundreds or even thousands of years old as they can survive long periods of drought, however, the plants die if they are disturbed. The most bizarre species found in Namibia's desert is the Welwitschia plant. A dwarf tree which lives for 2000 years or longer, specimens of average size are 500-600 years old. In its lifetime the plant produces a single pair of leaves which grow from opposite sides of the stem. Blackened by the sun and torn by the wind, the leaves are soon reduced to a tangle of strips which look like lots of individual leaves. Cone like flowers first appear at the age of 20. The female produces up to 100 flowers in a season, while the male produces an abundance of pollen, but the odds against propagation are formidable. Seeds available for new plants, which in any event is only one thousandth of the quantity produced, germinate only if it rains for several days. the Welwitschia is endemic to Namibia and one of the rarest plants in the world.

Another plant endemic to the southern Namib and the drylands in north western South Africa is the halfman tree. The halfman is a cactus like plant which grows in a group that, from a distance, look like people frozen in a laborious motion. Their spiny trunks, forever inclined northwards, with crinkled leaves at the top like mops of hair. Quiver trees are also endemic to the southern highlands. These trees were given their name in the 17th century when bushmen hunter/gatherers were seen to fashion quivers for their arrows from the branches. Usually 3-5m tall with a tapered trunk 1m in diameter the quiver tree is a giant aloe. The strangest tree in the highlands is perhaps the African Moringa, an upside down tree found in no other country in southern Africa. It has a squat and swollen trunk with gnarled branches, rather like a root system sticking up into the air. Another tree with an upside down appearance is the Baobab tree. The trunk of the Baobab divides into many branches do spread which taper rapidly to the tips. Recent research suggest that a tree with a girth of 25m may be over 3000 years old. The Mopane tree dominates the eastern reaches of the Kaokoveld as well as the sandveld as far as the Etosha Pan. One of the principal trees in the southern tropics of Africa, it forms dense thickets and even pure stands. Hairless caterpillars called mopane worms, which feed on the leaves, are eaten locally, roasted or dried, as a protein supplement.

The Omumborombonga or ancestral tree grows north of Windhoek in both highland savanna and sandveld woodlands. It is called the leadwood in English as its wood is the heaviest in the world. According to Herero storytellers it was out of the first Omumborombonga tree that the first human beings (a man and a woman) came forth. The wild animals of the veld, as well as the cattle and the sheep, came out of this tree, but the Bergdama (black slaves) came out of a rock as did goats and baboons. In time all Omumborombonga trees came to be venerated and wayfarers would address them as 'father' and entreat them to grant a prosperous journey.

• Stipagrostis Sabulicola

• African Moringa
• Ana Tree
• Apple-leaf Tree
• Baobab
• Buffalo thorn
• Camelthorn tree
• Candle pod tree
• Common cluster fig
• Halfmens tree
• Jackalberry
• Karree
• Kiaat or Wild Teak
• Marula Tree
• Mopane Tree
• Omumborombonga | Leadwood
• Quiver Tree
• Red Bushwillow
• Ringwood Tree
• Shepherds Tree
• Silver Clusterleaf
• Smelly Sheperds Tree
• Sweet Thorn
• Tamboti
• Umbrella Thorn
• Weeping Wattle
• White Seringa
• Wild Date Palm
• Wild Olive
• Wild Pear

• Lichen
• !nara Mellon
• Trianthema Hereroensis
• Welwitschia Plant
• Wild Tobacco