Encephalartos laurentianus
Encephalartos laurentianus, commonly called the malele or Kwango giant cycad, is a species of cycad that is native to northern Angola and southern Congo (Zaire), mostly along the Kwango River.[1] It is the largest of all cycads, with multiple stems both upright and prostrate, each as much as sixty feet (18 meters) in length,[2] and bearing a rosette of massive once-pinnate fronds up to 25 feet (eight meters) in length, forty inches (100 cm) in width, and with a petiole or stalk up to three inches (7.6 cm) thick where it joins the stem or trunk. Each stem can be up to four feet (120 cm) in thickness.[3][4][5] This is also said to be the fastest growing cycad, producing up to five "flushes" (rosettes, or clusters) of leaves each year.[6]
| Encephalartos laurentianus | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Division: | Cycadophyta |
| Class: | Cycadopsida |
| Order: | Cycadales |
| Family: | Zamiaceae |
| Genus: | Encephalartos |
| Species: | E. laurentianus |
| Binomial name | |
| Encephalartos laurentianus De Wild. | |
References
- "Encephalartos laurentianus in Tropicos".
- http://www.cycadpalm.com/enlaplkwgicy.html
- ANNALES DU MUSEE DU CONGO Series 6 FLORE Vol. 1 (1904) p. 10.
- KEW BULLETIN Vol. 12 # 2 (1957) pp. 248-249.
- Douglas Goode, CYCADS OF AFRICA (Cape Town: Struik-Winchester, 1989) p. 240.
- <not stated>. "E. laurentianus". Retrieved July 15, 2014.
External links
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