Encephalartos hirsutus
Venda cycad
Family Zamiaceae
IUCN: Critically endangered Wikipedia (opens in a new tab)
About
Encephalartos hirsutus, the Venda cycad, is a critically endangered cycad from Limpopo, South Africa, with perhaps ten plants left in the wild as of 2020.
Care at a glance
- Pet safety
- Not recorded. We have no source on whether this plant is safe for cats, dogs or other pets — that is not the same as safe. Keep it out of reach until you have checked.
- People
- Not recorded.
- Mature size
- Up to about 4 m tall; leaves 1.1–1.4 m long.
Field notes
Morphology
A tree-like cycad up to 4 m tall, leaning in older plants. Leaves 1.1–1.4 m long carry leathery, smooth-edged leaflets with a spiny tip. Male plants bear 2–5 erect cones about 50 cm long; females carry 1–3 egg-shaped cones about 40 cm long.
Distribution & habitat
Recorded from three sites on south-east-facing quartzite cliffs in the Makuya Nature Reserve beside Kruger National Park, at 800–1,000 m.
Conservation
Effectively extirpated in the wild by collecting for ornamental use.
Habitat
- Altitude
- Not recorded
- Altitude class
- —
- Native to
- South Africa
- IUCN status
- Critically endangered
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- Not recorded
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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