Friday, September 07, 2007

Valley of the Cycads

I like cycads. They're ancient plants as at home in wilderness and our gardens today as they were in the age of the dinosaurs.

the rarest plant in the world


I think one of the things I like about these is their relic nature. There are only around 200 300 (taxonomy is moving rather quickly) species left in 11 genera which is a number just small enough to convince a young tai haku he could collect a specimen of each species in his house. For now my collection is quite small and rests with my parents and the bulk of my cycad collecting is done by memory card. Here's a collection of my cycad-related posts ordered by genus (the numbers in brackets represent the numbers of species I've posted about vs the total number in the genus). Enjoy.

Bowenia
Bowenia serrulata
Bowenia spectabilis*
(2/2 species)

Ceratozamia
Ceratozamia euryphyllidia
Ceratozamia kuersteriana
Ceratozamia latifolia
Ceratozamia mexicana - coning.
Ceratozamia microstrobila
Ceratozamia miqueliana
Ceratozamia norstogii
Ceratozamia hildae - I
Ceratozamia hildae -II (male cone)
Ceratozamia robusta
Ceratozamia sabatoi
Ceratozamia sp. "Tomazunchale"
(10/20 species, 1 named form)

Chigua
Nothing yet - sorry!
(0/2 species)

Cycas

Cycas bougainvilleana
Cycas cairnsiana
Cycas chamberlainii

Cycas debaoensis*
Cycas diannanensis*
Cycas elephantipes*
Cycas media
Cycas micronesica
Cycas ophiolitica
Cycas pectinata
Cycas platyphylla
Cycas revoluta - I (pupping)
Cycas revoluta - II (pupping)
Cycas revoluta - III (flushing)
Cycas rumphii? (coning male)
Cycas rumphii? (rumphii complex)
Cycas seemannii
Cycas simplicipinna*
Cycas thouarsii*
Cycas thouarsii
Cycas wadei
(17/100 species)

Dioon
Dioon angustifolium*
Dioon angustifolium*
Dioon califanoi
Dioon caputoi
Dioon edule
(coning female)
Dioon edule
II
Dioon holmgrenii
Dioon mejiae
Dioon merolae
Dioon purpusii
Dioon rzedowskii
Dioon spinulosum
Dioon spinulosum*
Dioon sonorense
Dioon tomasellii
(12/13 species)

Encephalartos
Encephalartos aemulans
Encephalartos altensteinii (the famous Kew gardens specimen)
Encephalartos altensteinii (coning male)
Encephalartos arenarius
Ecephalartos barteri
Encephalartos bubalinus
Encephalartos caffer
Encephalartos cerinus
Encephalartos concinnus
Encephalartos cupidus
Encephalartos cycadifolius
Encephalartos dolomiticus
Encephalartos ferox

Encephalartos gratus I
Encephalartos gratus II
Encephalartos gratus III (coning male)
Encephalartos gratus IV
Encephalartos hildebrantii
Encephalartos horridus I (coning female) a remarkable blue cycad from southern Africa
Encephalartos horridus II
Encephalartos inopinus
Encephalartos ituriensis
Encephalartos kisambo
I
Encephalartos kisambo II
Encephalartos latifrons
Encephalartos laurentianus
Encephalartos lehmanii I
Encephalartos lehmanii II
Encephalartos longifolius I
Encephalartos longifolius II
Encephalartos manikensis
Encephalartos msinganus
Encephalartos munchii
Encephalartos natalensis
Encephalartos natalenis X woodii
Encephalartos ngoyanus
Encephalartos paucidentatus
Encephalartos pterogonus
Encephalartos sclavoi
Encephalartos senticosus
Encephalartos septentrionalis
Encephalartos tegulaneus
Encephalartos transvenosus
Encephalartos trispinosus I (coning male)
Encephalartos trispinosus II
Encephalartos turneri
Encephalartos umbeluziensis
Encephalartos villosus
I (coning female)
Encephalartos villosus II
Encephalartos villosus x umbeluziensis
Encephalartos whitelockii
Encephalatos woodii the rarest plant in the world?
(40/65 species, 2 hybrids)

Lepidozamia
Lepidozamia hopei
Lepidozamia peroffskyana
(2/2 species)

Macrozamia
Macrozamia communis - (cone/seed-bearing female)
Macrozamia communis*
Macrozamia dyeri
Macrozamia lucidus
Macrozamia macdonnellii
Macrozamia miquelli
Macrozamia moorei I - (coning male)
Macrozamia moorei II
(6/41 species)

Microcycas
Microcycas calocoma I - (coning male)
(1/1 species)

Stangeria
Stangeria eropius - I (forest form)
Stangeria eriopius - II (grassland form)
(0/1 species)

Zamia
Zamia amblyphyllidia - (coning female)
Zamia encephalartoides
Zamia fairchildiana
Zamia floridana (syn. Z. integrifolia)
- I (coning male, narrow, leaflet form)
Zamia floridana (syn. Z. integrifolia) - II (coning female, narrow leaflet form)
Zamia furfuracea - I (coning male) a beautiful and horticulturally popular new world species.
Zamia furfuracea - II (coning male).
Zamia furfuracea - III (inland form, coning male)
Zamia furfuracea - IV (coning female, seeds)
Zamia herrerae
Zamia inermis
I
Zamia inermis
II
Zamia lindenii
Zamia loddigessii
Zamia neurophyllidia
Zamia obliqua
Zamia picta
Zamia pseudoparasitica
Zamia paucijuga

Zamia portoricensis - I (coning male)
Zamia portoricensis - II (coning female)
Zamia portoricensis - III
Zamia pumila -I (coning female)
Zamia pumila - II (coning female)
Zamia soconucensis
Zamia spartea
Zamia standleyii
Zamia tuerckheimii
Zamia vasquezii - (heavily coning female)
Zamia vasquezii
(21/57 species).

Miscellaneous cycadelia
Fossil cycad - San Diego Natural History Museum
Asian cycad scale
The Earth, Wind & Water cycad calendar!

Names with no links are spaceholders for species for which a post is forthcoming - think of them as future attractions. For taxonomy fans and other curious types the official world list of cycads can be found here. The names I use across the blog are the names the plant has been labelled or sold as unless the plant is not identified or the plant has obviously been incorrectly identified in which case I'll have done my best to identify it but may well be wrong.

Links marked with a * will represent plants in my own collection.

1 comment:

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Esme