Encephalartos laevifolius

Encephalartos laevifolius is a species of cycad that is found in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo Province, and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa.[1] The species is facing extinction in the wild, but is widely cultivated.

Kaapsehoop cycad
Specimens in the Pretoria National Botanical Garden

Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Cycadophyta
Class: Cycadopsida
Order: Cycadales
Family: Zamiaceae
Genus: Encephalartos
Species:
E. laevifolius
Binomial name
Encephalartos laevifolius
Stapf & Burtt Davy

Description
Young specimen in the Terra Nostra Garden, Azores

It is a cycad with an arborescent habit, with an erect stem, up to 3.5 m tall and with a diameter of 25–35 cm, sometimes with secondary stems originating from basal suckers. The leaves, pinnate, are up to 1 m long, supported by a petiole 22–25 cm long, and composed of numerous pairs of lanceolate, coriaceous leaflets, 12–15 cm long, with entire margins and pungent apex. It is a dioecious species, with male specimens that have 1 to 5 cylindrical-fusiform cones, 30–40 cm long and 9–10 cm broad, yellow to brown in color, and female specimens with 1-5 cylindrical cones, 20 long –30 cm and width 10–15 cm, light yellow. The seeds are roughly ovoid, 2.5-3.5 cm long, covered with a yellow-orange flesh.[2]

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References
  1. "Encephalartos laevifolius in Tropicos".
  2. "Encephalartos laevifolius". PlantNET Home Page - National Herbarium of New South Wales. Retrieved 2019-09-17.


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