What Types of Cycads Are There? Introduction to Common Varieties

Cycads are a rare plant group in the world, with 24 extant species. Those commonly seen in gardens include: Cycas rumphii, Cycas szechuanensis, Cycas panzhihuaensis, Cycas micholitzii, Cycas multipinnata, Zamia cycads, and others.

Cycas indica has an upright stem. They have 20-30 stiff leaves, each 90 cm long, shaped like a pointed spear. They have 50-100 pairs of leaflets, 10-17.5 cm long and 3-4 mm wide, tilted forward at 45°. The petiole has fine spines.

The female cone opens, with sporophylls 15-20 cm long, bearing pink to brown cotton-like hairs that droop, and two small ovules. The cones emerge between November and December and mature between March and May. The leaf margins are serrated with sharp tips. The outer seed coat is yellow to brown. The male cone is oval, 30 cm long and 7 cm wide, with rhombic sporophyll faces.

Between the outer seed coat and the hard seed coat of the Cycas indica fruit there is a fleshy layer that can provide moisture to the seed. Because its seeds have no dormancy, this is an important survival condition for the seeds.

Conservation

Cycas indica grows in the arid and hot eastern India. They are slightly fire-resistant, but the seeds and seedlings are susceptible to grass fires. Local people collect the male cones to treat rheumatoid arthritis and muscle pain. Due to the demand for its medicinal properties, it is now in a critically endangered state.

Cycas hainanensis C. hainanensis

·Cycas hainanensis(Cycas hainanensis), commonly known asDragon Tail GrassorSpiny-stalked Cycad, is a plant that grows in Hainan Province, China, belonging to the family Cycadaceae and the genus Cycas. It is currently found only in Wanning in the southeast of Hainan Island and Haikou in the northeast.

· Cycas hainanensis grows at altitudes of 200 m to 1,000 m, and has not yet been introduced and cultivated artificially.

Cycas micholitzii C. micholitzii

Cycas micholitzii(scientific name: Cycas micholitzii), also known as Longkou Cycad (Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae), is a plant of the family Cycadaceae and the genus Cycas. It is distributed in Vietnam and in Guangxi and other places in mainland China, often growing in broad-leaved forests at the foot of rocky hills, and has not yet been introduced and cultivated artificially.

Cycas pectinata C. pectinata

Cycas pectinata(scientific name: Cycas pectinata) is a plant of the family Cycadaceae and the genus Cycas. It is distributed in Myanmar, India, Thailand, Sikkim, Nepal, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and in Yunnan: Kunming and other places in mainland China. It grows at an altitude of 1,210 m, mostly on limestone slopes or in mixed forests, and has not yet been introduced and cultivated artificially.

Cycas revolute C. revolute

Sago Cycad(scientific name: Cycas revoluta), also calledIron Tree、Phoenix-tail Banana、Phoenix-tail Pine、Fire-avoiding Tree, is a plant belonging to the family Cycadaceae.

It is native to southern Kyushu, Japan and the Ryukyu Islands, and is also one of the most widely cultivated cycad plants in the world. It is planted in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide, and is cultivated in Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Hainan, Hong Kong, China and other places in China. In addition, the "cycad colony" at Ankiyaba on Amami Oshima in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, has about 60,000 cycads covering the entire mountain, making it the most concentrated cycad site in Japan.

Cycas rumphii C. rumphii

·Cycas rumphii(scientific name: Cycas rumphii) is a plant of the family Cycadaceae and the genus Cycas. It is distributed in Indonesia, New Guinea and Christmas Island, mostly growing in mixed forests on hillsides, and has not yet been introduced and cultivated artificially.

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· Morphology

· The trunk is 4 to 8 m tall, up to 15 m at most. The pinnate leaves are 1.8 m long, with 50 to 60 pairs of leaflets, 25 cm long and 5 to 15 mm wide, with flat or slightly revolute margins and decurrent bases. The leaflets at the tip of the frond gradually shorten or suddenly shorten to a few millimeters; the upper side of the rachis is raised, and both sides of the petiole have spines. It is commonly used as an ornamental garden plant in various parts of South China.

· Aliases

· Spiny-leaved Cycad (Chinese Tree Taxonomy), Dragon-tail Cycad (Flora Hainanica)

Cycas siamensis C. siamensis

Cycas siamensis(scientific name: Cycas siamensis), also calledSiamese Cycad, is a plant of the family Cycadaceae and the genus Cycas. It is distributed in Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, and in Lancang, Yunnan: Simao, Guangxi, Luxi, Jinghong, Guangdong and other places in mainland China. It grows at altitudes of 500 m to 1,800 m, mostly in monsoon forests and open forests on hillsides, and has not yet been introduced and cultivated artificially.

Cycas szechuanensis C. smhuanensis

Cycas szechuanensis(scientific name: Cycas szechuanensis), also calledNanpanjiang Cycad，Guizhou Cycad, is a plant of the family Cycadaceae and the genus Cycas, and is endemic to China. It is distributed in Emei Mountain in Sichuan, Nanping in Fujian, Ya'an, Leshan and other places in mainland China, often growing by streams in valleys, and has not yet been introduced and cultivated artificially.

Cycas taitungensis C. taitungensis

Cycas taitungensis(scientific name:Cycas taitungensis), is a plant endemic to Taiwan, China, and the only species of the family Cycadaceae there; its English name isTaitung cycad。

The tree is 1 to 4.5 m tall, with a columnar stem, usually single and rarely branched, the main trunk thick and densely covered with the woody bases of persistent leaf stalks (leaf scars). The leaves are pinnately compound, about 2 m long, clustered at the top of the stem; the leaflets are linear and arranged horizontally; the middle leaflets are about 26 cm long, with flat, non-revolute margins and no downy hairs on the underside. It is dioecious, with unisexual flowers; the male cone (microsporangiate strobilus) is long-cylindrical, composed of numerous triangular pointed microsporophylls, resembling a cone; the female cone (megasporophylls) is flat, with slender red lobes, and ovules borne on both sides. The seeds are drupe-like, obovate or long-elliptic, red-purple.

Cycas taiwaniana C. taiwaniana

·Cycas taiwaniana(scientific name: Cycas taiwaniana), also calledGuangdong Cycad, is restricted in distribution to the Fujian and Guangdong areas of China. The original specimen was collected in Taitung, Taiwan, China and was confused with the species now renamed Cycas taitungensis, and its specific epithet was given as "taiwaniana" (meaning "of Taiwan"). However, based on further morphological and biochemical research, Cycas taiwaniana and Cycas taitungensis have been separated taxonomically.

· Cycas taitungensis (Cycas taitungensis), formerly mistaken for Cycas taiwaniana, is in fact a different species. Its English name is Taiwan Cycas.

Cycas debaoensis C. debaoensis

Cycas debaoensis(scientific name: Cycas debaoensis) is a plant belonging to the genus Cycas. It is a national first-class protected plant and is endemic to China.

· Most of the trunk grows underground, with the aboveground part only 40 to 70 cm tall and 25 to 40 cm in diameter, sometimes clustered; dark brown, scaly at the top and smooth at the base. There are 5 to 11 leaves, each leaf 3-times pinnately parted, with an elliptical outline, opening in a V shape between the pinnae in cross-section, 1.3 to 2.7 m long and 0.5 to 1.5 m wide. The petiole is round-obovate in cross-section, 0.6 to 1.3 m long and 1.5-3 cm in diameter; downy when young, later shedding toward the base, with spines above the base. There are 20 to 55 spines, growing along both sides of the rachis, 1 to 4.5 cm apart, conical, 3 to 4 cm long. The upper leaf surface is green and glossy, the underside light green, linear.

· The male cone is initially oval, with brown down; after maturity it loses the hairs and becomes spindle-shaped and columnar, 13 to 25 cm long and 4 to 9 cm in diameter. The microsporophylls are narrowly cuneate, 3 to 3.5 cm long and 1.2 to 1.6 cm wide. There are 30 to 50 megasporophylls, 15 to 20 cm long, with yellowish-brown down; seeds 3 to 4, yellow to brown, nearly spherical or ovoid, slightly flattened, 3 to 3.5 cm long and 2.5 to 3 cm wide, with a pointed tip at the apex; the seed coat is finely protuberant. The pollination period is March to April, and the seed maturity period is November.

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The distribution area of Cycas debaoensis is narrow, found only on limestone slopes at altitudes between 800 and **** m in Fuping Township, Debao County, Guangxi. Due to human factors, its number has sharply declined from more than 2,000 plants in 1998 to 1,085 plants in 2001, especially with a drastic decrease in the number of adult plants, thus causing the age structure to become more juvenile.

Cycas panzhihuaensis C. panzhihuaensis

Cycas panzhihuaensis(scientific name: Cycas panzhihuaensis) is a plant belonging to the genus Cycas. It is a national first-class protected plant and is endemic to China.

The stem is 0.4 to 1 m tall. The pinnate leaves are 0.7 to 1.5 m long, usually with 70 to 105 pairs of pinnae. The upper two sides of the petiole have straight short spines; the pinnae are linear, straight or slightly curved, thickly leathery, hairless beneath or with chestnut-colored hairs in the middle and lower part, the midrib rather raised, the base cuneate, flattened and oblique on both sides, the margins slightly revolute after drying. The male cone is borne obliquely at the top of the stem, spindle-shaped cylindrical or long-elliptic cylindrical, slightly curved, 25 to 45 cm long and 8 to 11 cm in diameter; densely downy. The female cone is spherical or conical-spherical at the top of the stem; the megasporophylls have yellowish-brown to brown down, the apical lamina flat, broadly rhombic or rhombic-ovate, 8 to 10 cm long and 3.5 to 5.5 cm wide, the middle and upper part deeply dentately lobed, with 15 to 20 subulate lobes, and 1 to 5 smooth hairless ovules borne on the middle and upper part of the stalk-like portion; the seeds are nearly spherical or slightly flattened, smooth and hairless, the aril fleshy, orange-red, thin papery, fragile, the outer seed coat bony, the middle seed coat smooth, the inner seed coat thickly membranous, and the endosperm abundant.

Cycas changjiangensis C. changjiangensis

Cycas changjiangensis(Cycas changjiangensis) is a plant of the family Cycadaceae and the genus Cycas. It is distributed in Hainan and other places in mainland China, with a gourd-shaped stem, and has not yet been introduced and cultivated artificially.

Cycas hongheensis C. honghoensis

Cycas hongheensis(scientific name: Cycas hongheensis), also calledHonghe Cycad、Fine-leaved Cycad. It is a plant belonging to the genus Cycas. It is a national first-class protected plant and is endemic to China.

The trunk is 5-8 m tall, swollen at the base, sometimes branched, the main trunk 30-40 cm in diameter, sometimes up to 1.3 m, the bark longitudinally fissured, smooth, gray-white. The scale leaves are lanceolate, hard, 3-4.5 cm long, 1-1.5 cm wide at the base, pointed at the apex, smooth above, densely yellowish-brown downy beneath, the leaf margins flat or slightly revolute; the seeds are spherical, 1.7-2.7 cm long and 1.6-2.4 cm in diameter, yellow, orange-yellow to orange-red when mature.

Cycas balansae C. balansae

Cycas balansae(scientific name: Cycas balansae), also calledYunnan Cycad, is a species of the genus Cycas, native to southwestern Guangxi and southern Yunnan in China, and also growing in northern Vietnam. It grows in high-mountain rainforests and is relatively cold-tolerant.

Cycas simplicipinna C. simplicipinna

Cycas miquelii C. miquelii

Cycas ferruginea C. ferruginea

Cycas thouarsii C. thouarsii

Cycas angulata C. angulata

Cycas cairnsiana C. cairnsiana

Cycas javana C. javana

Cycas lingshuigensis C. lingshuigensis

Cycas megacarpa C. megacarpa

Cycas petrae C. petrae

Cycas nongnoochiae C. nongnoochiae

Cycas ophiolitica C. ophiolitica

Cycas platyphylla C. platyphylla

Cycas shanyagensis C. shanyagensis

Cycas silvestris C. silvestris

Cycas wadei C. wadei

Cycas media C. media

Cycas media(scientific name: Cycas media), also calledAustralian Phoenix-tail Pine, is a plant belonging to the family Cycadaceae, native to the east coast of Queensland, Australia.