Cycas

Read about Cycas in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Cycas (Greek kukas, the name of a palm tree). Cycadaceae. Several beautiful palm-like plants, common in cultivation under glass. Plate XXXIII. The Cycadaceae are of great interest because they occupy a place intermediate between flowering plants and the cryptogams. Like the former they have fr. with a large starchy endocarp; but like the latter their sexual prop, is accomplished by means of spermatozoids and archegonia, corresponding to the male and female elements in animals. The plants are dioecious; the male infl. is in the form of an erect cone composed of modified staminal lvs. which bear on the under surface globose pollen sacs corresponding to microsporangia; the female infl. consists of a tuft of spreading carpellary lvs. having their margins coarsely notched; in the notches are situated the ovules, which are devoid of any protective covering, and correspond to macrosporangia. Pollination under natural conditions is effected by the wind. The pollen settles on the ovules and sends down a tube into the tissue of the nucellus. Archegonia are formed; egg-cells develop, and in the pollen-tube are produced spermatozoids provided with minute movable cilia by which they are propelled, very much as in the spermatozoa of animals. These are discharged over the archegonia and fecundate the egg. The discovery of spcrmatozoids in the cycads was made by a Japanese student, S. Ikeno, while investigating the process of reproduction of Cycas circinalis. Those of Zamia, endemic in Fla., were described and figured by H. J. Webber, who found the mature spermatozoids of the latter genus to be the largest known to occur in any plant or animal. Most of the species of Cycas are arborescent, having a trunk marked with rings of growth and with the scars of fallen petioles. The trunk is usually simple and columnar (though sometimes it is branched), and is elongated by a terminal bud. The pinnate leaves form a beautiful terminal crown like that of a palm or tree- fern. Cycads are found among the fossils of many geological formations, especially in those of the early Mesozoic. The latter formations are grouped together on this account, and the geological epoch which they represent is sometimes designated as the "Age of the Cycads." Cycads are among the most ornamental plants of tropical and subtropical gardens. In the United States they are often designated "sago palms," although they have nothing in common with a palm except the general habit of growth. In Florida, according to H. Nehrling who has a plantation at Gotha, near the center of the state, they thrive equally well on high pine land and in the rich soil of the low hummocks. C. circinalis is apparently the most sturdy of the cultivated species. It is almost free from diseases; but it is more sensitive to cold than C. revoluta. The latter, on the other hand, is subject to diseases in low flat wooded situations. A third species, C. siamensis, which is comparatively rare, seems to be perfectly hardy in Florida. In cultivating cycads, Nehrling has attained the best results by keeping the weeds away from the base of the trees and loosening the soil from time to time, taking care not to injure the small network of tubercle-bearing roots surrounding the trunk. The tubercles, which are about the size of a pea, are interesting to the plant physiologist, and are apparently conducive to the plant's well-being. Nehrling gathers the pollen from the male plants and sprinkles it by hand over the female flowers to insure fertilization of the naked ovules. Plants are propagated by seeds, which keep well for a month or more after ripening. According to E. N. Reasoner, they should be sown in shallow boxes or the greenhouse bench, lightly covered with sand, and after germination, potted off in small pots of moderately rich, light soil. The growing plants do best in partial shade. The old plants frequently send up suckers around the base of the trunk. These may be taken off when in a dormant state and rooted, care being taken to remove the leaves to guard against excessive transpiration. Growing cycads require sunshine and moisture. The beautiful glossy leaves of cycads are used in many countries for ornamenting temples and for decorating altars. On the island of Guam they are used for palm leaves on Palm Sunday, and in the early days they were carried by children in religious processions, marching from one village to another under the guidance of the Jesuit missionaries. Cycads are popular conservatory plants, of easy culture, and tenacious of life, even when neglected for a long time. Their stems deprived of leaves are easily transported in bulk and will soon resume growth when planted. In the southern United States, cycads are injured by frost but often revive after having apparently been killed. Other cultivated cycads are C. neo-caledonica, Lind. "A very ornamental palm-like plant, of a different species from the cycads ordinarily grown," intro. into the U. S. by W. T. Swingle. Much like C. circinalis but with fronds narrower and pinnae closer. — C. Normanoyana, Muell., intro. into the U. S. from France by W. T. Swingle, a species with oblong-obovate lvs., having numerous linear pinnae 6 in. long. Austral. — C. Riuminiana, Hegel. St. rather stout: lvs. bright green, erect, spreading in a vase-like crown, the pinnae fine-pointed. Philippines. I. H. 11:405. W.E. Safford The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Plant Characteristics

Origin:	✈	?

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	?"?" is not in the list (sun, part-sun, shade, unknown) of allowed values for the "Exposure" property.
Water:	◍	?"?" is not in the list (wet, moist, moderate, dry, less when dormant) of allowed values for the "Water" property.

Scientific Names

Cycadaceae >

Cycas >

Cycas is the type genus and the only genus currently recognised in the cycad family Cycadaceae.

Read about Cycas in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Cycadaceae (from the genus Cycas, the Greek name of a certain palm). Cycas Family. Fig. 4. More or less woody plants, with thick, unbranched, columnar or tuberous stem: leaves alternate, pinnate: stamens and carpels borne in cones or in temporarily terminal clusters: scales of the staminate cone bearing very many scattered anthers on the under side: the carpels open, not forming a closed ovary, either leaf-like pinnatifid and bearing marginal ovules, or peltate with 2 or more suspended ovules; the latter very large, often 1 inch long, orthotropous, with 1 integument, becoming drupe-like. Cycadaceae has 9 genera and about 85 species, distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. Zamia is the largest genus, with 30 species. The family stands isolated among the gymnosperms. The palm-like habit, pinnate leaves, very numerous scattered stamens, and, in Cycas, the leaf-like carpel, are distinctive. Differences more important to the morphologist are to be found in the embryology, especially in the fertilization by motile sperm-cells. The leaves are circinate when unfolding, like those of a fern. The Cycadaceae represent an ancient family far more numerous in past geologic ages. Many fossil species are known. Various species of Cycas in the Moluccas and Japan, especially C. revoluta, yield a sago in the pithy part of the stem which the natives bake into bread. The Hottentots eat the pith of Encephalartos, making from it "Kafir bread.” The seeds of Cycas and Zamia are edible. The leaves of Cycas are used at funerals and church festivals as "palm branches." Several genera are in cultivation in America for greenhouse use and outdoors in the South. These are Bowenia; Ceratozamia of Mexico; Cycas (Sago Palm) of the far East; Dioon of Mexico; Encephalartos of South Africa; Macrozamia of Australia; Stangeria of South Africa; Zamia (Coontie, Comptie) of tropical America.CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Cultivation

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Propagation

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Pests and diseases

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Species

Cycas aculeata Cycas angulata Cycas annaikalensis Cycas apoa Cycas arenicola Cycas armstrongii Cycas arnhemica Cycas badensis Cycas balansae Cycas basaltica Cycas beddomei Cycas bifida Cycas bougainvilleana Cycas brachycantha Cycas brunnea Cycas cairnsiana Cycas calcicola Cycas campestris Cycas candida Cycas canalis Cycas chamaoensis Cycas changjiangensis Cycas chevalieri Cycas circinalis Cycas clivicola Cycas collina Cycas condaoensis Cycas conferta Cycas couttsiana Cycas curranii Cycas debaoensis Cycas desolata Cycas diannanensis

Cycas dolichophylla Cycas edentata Cycas elephantipes Cycas elongata Cycas falcata Cycas fairylakea Cycas ferruginea Cycas fugax Cycas furfuracea Cycas guizhouensis Cycas hainanensis Cycas hoabinhensis Cycas hongheensis Cycas inermis Cycas javana Cycas lanepoolei Cycas lindstromii Cycas litoralis Cycas maconochiei Cycas macrocarpa Cycas media Cycas megacarpa Cycas micholitzii Cycas micronesica Cycas multipinnata Cycas nathorstii Cycas nongnoochiae Cycas ophiolitica Cycas orientis Cycas pachypoda Cycas panzhihuaensis Cycas papuana

Cycas pectinata Cycas petraea Cycas platyphylla Cycas pranburiensis Cycas pruinosa Cycas revoluta Cycas riuminiana Cycas rumphii Cycas schumanniana Cycas scratchleyana Cycas seemafaux Cycas segmentifida Cycas semota Cycas sexseminifera Cycas siamensis Cycas silvestris Cycas simplicipinna Cycas spherica Cycas szechuanensis Cycas taitungensis Cycas taiwaniana Cycas tanqingii Cycas tansachana Cycas thouarsii Cycas tropophylla Cycas tuckeri Cycas wadei Cycas xipholepis Cycas yorkiana Cycas yunnanensis Cycas zambalensis Cycas zeylanica

Gallery

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  A male cone of Cycas circinalis

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  Bark of Cycas rumphii

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  photo 3

References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

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