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Cycads in South Africa. Cycads / ˈ s aɪ k æ d z / are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male or female. Cycads vary in size from having trunks only a few centimeters ...
Cardboard cycads can only be reproduced by the fleshy, brightly crimson-colored seeds produced by the female plants. The germination process is very slow and difficult to achieve in cultivation; as a result, many plants sold for horticultural use are illegally collected in the wild, leading to the species being classified as Endangered.
Like other cycads, Z. integrifolia is dioecious, having male or female plants. The male cones are cylindrical, growing to 5–16 cm long; they are often clustered. The female cones are elongate-ovoid and grow to 5–19 cm long and 4–6 cm in diameter. [8] It produces reddish seed cones with a distinct acuminate tip.
While there are more than 200 species of cycads, only one is native to Florida, and only a couple are popular landscaping plants in our area.
The seeds are large and have a fleshy outer coat and are desirable to a range of animals. However the unpalatable seed is discarded some distance away from the parent plant in a hospitable environment in which to germinate. The seeds of E. whitelockii are an important food source for baboons. This species is not only pollinated by wind but also ...
Encephalartos horridus, the Eastern Cape blue cycad, [3] is a small, low-growing cycad up to 0.9 m (3.0 ft) high and 0.9 m (3.0 ft) wide. [4] It is a native of Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, and found in arid shrublands, most commonly on ridges and slopes with shallow soils.
In most cases, the fleshy coat is eaten off the seed rather than the entire seed being consumed. Cycads are long-lived and slow-growing, with slow recruitment and population turnover. [9] All cycads possess 'coralloid' (meaning coral-like) roots.
The cylindrical cones are some of the largest of all cycad cones, rivalled only by Encephalartos transvenosus. [4] The male cones can reach seventy five centimetres long and the female cones ninety centimetres, weighing up to forty five kilograms. [4] The seeds are large and numerous and have red sarcotesta. [2]