Cycas circinalis

Cycas circinalis, also known as the queen sago, is a species of cycad known in the wild only from southern India. Cycas circinalis is the only gymnosperm species found among native Sri Lankan flora.

Queen sago
Cycas circinalis in Kerala
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Cycadophyta
Class: Cycadopsida
Order: Cycadales
Family: Cycadaceae
Genus: Cycas
Species:
C. circinalis
Binomial name
Cycas circinalis

Cultivation

The plant is widely cultivated in Hawaii, both for its appearance in landscape and interiors, and for cut foliage.[1] In the Philippines, it is locally known as patubo, pitogo or bitogo.

  • Male cone, new
  • Male cone, old
  • Young shoots
  • Seed
  • Collected seeds
  • Young plant as seen in forest
  • Leaf

Use as food

The seed is poisonous. The potent poison in the seeds is removed by soaking them in water. Water from the first seed-soaking will kill birds, goats, sheep and hogs. Water from the following soakings is said to be harmless. [Minimum of 5 Soakings needed to ensure the safety]

After the final soaking, the seeds are dried and ground into flour. The flour is used to make tortillas, tamales, soup and porridge.

Lytico-bodig disease

The plant was thought to be linked with the degenerative disease lytico-bodig on the island of Guam; however, the cycad native to Guam has since been recognised as a separate species, Cycas micronesica, by K.D. Hill in 1994.

Chemistry

Leaflets of C. circinalis contain biflavonoids such as (2S, 2′′S)-2,3,2′′,3′′-tetrahydro-4′,4′′′-di-O-methylamentoflavone (tetrahydroisoginkgetin).[2]

gollark: What would be nice is if they'd let me remote-learn a few days a week as the in-person stuff will be pretty limited anyway, except nobody seems to have thought of that or considered that it might be a good idea some people might like?
gollark: So my school has sent out its plans to keep people socially distant and whatnot while at school during the term (starting in a week and a half or so), and they seem like they should actually be pretty effective (apart from the bits about not sharing pencils etc. and wiping down tables a lot, as apparently surface transmission is overrated). They would *also*, though, make lots of school things extremely annoying.
gollark: Random, but sure, some of them are useful chemicals I guess.
gollark: Still, 12 hours of work a day sounds like a great way to have problems.
gollark: Yeeees.

References
  1. Iwata, Ruth Y.; Rauch, Fred D. (October 1988). "King and Queen Sago". University of Hawaii. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
  2. Phytochemical Investigation of Cycas circinalis and Cycas revoluta Leaflets: Moderately Active Antibacterial Biflavonoids. Abeer Moawad, Mona Hetta, Jordan K. Zjawiony, Melissa R. Jacob, Mohamed Hifnawy, Jannie P. J. Marais and Daneel Ferreira, Planta Med., 2010, 76(8), pages 796-802, doi:10.1055/s-0029-1240743
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