Karoo cycad

This cycad grows up to two metres tall with a trunk diameter of up to forty five centimetres and may be branched or unbranched. The leaves are up to one hundred and fifty centimetres long, blue or silver and strongly keeled. The leaflets are lanceolate, do not overlap each other and have smooth margins. The male cones are green or brown and up to thirty five centimetres long. The female cones are a similar colour and up to fifty centimetres long. The seeds are red and up to four and a half centimetres long.

The Karoo cycad is one of around 300 living representatives of a plant group, the cycads, which flourished over 150 million years ago alongside the dinosaurs (4) (5). This squat, low-growing species commonly forms clumps with two or more stems branching from the same base (2) (6) (7). Although woody in appearance, the stems are mostly comprised of soft, pithy storage tissue protected by a solid layer of old leaf bases (6) (8). More

Karoo Cycad - South African cycad with beautiful blue-gray foliage to 3-5 feet tall. Full sun. Low water needs. Hardy to 25-30 degrees F Encephalartos longifolius Medium sized cycad which grows to 14' tall with long blue-green recurved leaves. Smaller in cultivation. Full sun, low water, hardy to 26 F. More