Encephalartos msinganus

Encephalartos msinganus is a species of cycad from Kwazulu-Natal.

Encephalartos msinganus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Cycadophyta
Class: Cycadopsida
Order: Cycadales
Family: Zamiaceae
Genus: Encephalartos
Species:
E. msinganus
Binomial name
Encephalartos msinganus
Vorster

Description

It is an arborescent plant, with a stem up to 3 m tall and with a diameter of 35 cm.

The leaves are 110-150 cm long, light green in color, stiff and rather keeled. The spine is green, straight or slightly curved. The non-overlapping lanceolate leaflets, 14–17 cm long, are arranged on the rachis in the opposite way, with an insertion angle of about 60º; the margins are full and smooth and the apex thins to become a robust spine. The leaves of the basal part are smaller and are often reduced to spines.

It is a dioecious species, with ovoid-shaped male cones, pale yellow, 30–40 cm long and 11–12 cm broad. On each plant they grow up to four at a time. The female cones, about the same shape, are 42 cm long, have a diameter of 22 cm, and can be covered with a thin brown hair. Usually each plant produces one or two.

The seeds have an oblong shape and are covered by a red sarcotesta.[1]


References
  1. "Encephalartos msinganus". PlantNET Home Page - National Herbarium of New South Wales. Retrieved 2019-09-17.


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