One of the more tropical looking cycads that does well in So Cal, this is an unusual genus of cycads in that they look more like 'ordinar...Read Morey' leafy plants. Their caudex is subteranean and the leaves just shoot out of the ground one at a time. This species produces smooth, shiny, deep green leaves in a relatively symetrical pattern. It is prone to mealy bug and scale in the greenhouse. It is an Australian native. Like all cycads, it is a cone producer. Small cones will pop out of the ground near the underground caudex.
And like all cycads, polllinators are important in the getting of the pollen from the male plant to the female plant. Unfortunately, very few, if any, insects in the US act as alternate pollinators, so to reproduce these plants, we humans have to do the pollinating. Pollen is collected from male cones, saved in a freezer, and used either as a powder or mixed into a slurry and applied to the female cone as it becomes receptive.
One of the more tropical looking cycads that does well in So Cal, this is an unusual genus of cycads in that they look more like 'ordinar...Read More