There
is probably only one type of plant fanatic who is even more only
fanatical than the palm fanatic - namely, the cycad fanatic. If
you haven't caught the cycad bug yet, now's your chance…
Lepidozamia peroffskyana -
an absolutely stunning cycad with lovely, glossy, olive-green
leaves
I remember well the first cycad I ever saw. I was visiting friends
in equatorial West Africa. Their garden was set into a hillside
overlooking the sea. It was filled with palms and pawpaw trees,
avocados and acacias.
There was also a small grove of the most extraordinary-looking
trees I had ever set eyes upon. Each fat, gnarly trunk was topped
by a vast, drooping crown of glossy, feathery leaves. Sitting right
in the centre of the crowns of some of the plants were odd things
that looked like vast pine cone (I later discovered that these
were, indeed, the seed cones of the plants).
At first, I assumed that these were some strange kinds of palm
tree. But even though they looked kind of like palms, when you
looked more closely, they didn't really look like palms at all.
I didn't know it at the time, but I had met my first cycad.
Cycas revolta is
popularly known as the Sago Palm - but in fact, it's not a palm
at all - it's a cycad.
JURASSIC PLANTS
In spite of their broadly similar appearance, cycads and palms
are not close relatives. Cycads were at their height in prehistoric
times. Around 150 to 200 million years ago, during the Jurassic
Period, they were one of the dominant types of plant life, growing
in vast luxuriant jungles throughout the world.
There are now less than 200 species of cycad left and many of
these are rare. Species of cycad are found growing in Africa, Australia
and America and the Far East. Their habitats range from cold, arid
deserts to warm, tropical rainforests. Most cycads are tropical
or subtropical though a few are temperate and a very small number
can survive frosts.
The perfect palm-like leaf of Lepidozamia
peroffskyana.
At present, very few nurseries in Britain stock any cycads at
all, though you may occasionally come across the so-called Sago
Palm, Cycas revoluta.
Most cycads are very slow-growing plants (yes, even slower than
palms!) and they often take several years to develop any sign of
a trunk. Some species, in fact, never develop a visible trunk.
In these species the trunk grows below ground, leaving just the
crown of leaves visible on the surface.
This is a close-up of the 'trunk' of the
small Cycas revoluta shown above. In large specimens,
the trunk develops to tree-like proportions.
CYCAD CARE
Most cycads grow best if they are watered and fed liberally during
the summer months but kept quite dry during winter. They tend to
put out a single flush of leaves once a year - often, though not
invariably, in mid-summer. Some cycads show tolerance to frost
and may potentially make good garden plants in mild locations.
The Chinese cycad, Cycas panzihuensis, is widely thought
to be one of the most cold-hardy of all the cycads. So far, few
people have tried growing cycads out of doors in Britain, though
a Cycas revoluta can be seen in the garden of Lamorran House (St.
Mawes, Cornwall) and we have heard that some other British enthusiasts
have also succeeded in growing cycads in their gardens.
At Rosedown Mill, we have grown several species such
as Cycad revoluta, Dioon edule, Macrozamia communis and Macrozamia
moorii, in unheated polytunnels. All these have experienced
temperatures as low as -4C without any significant damage.
As a general rule, we recommend that you either grow cycads as
house plants or else grow the hardier varieties in tubs which can
be brought indoors in cold weather.
A nursery of baby Macrozamia spiralis cycads.
This article originally appeared
in the Rosedown Mill Subtropical Gardening newsletter.
This article © Copyright
2000 Rosedown Mill Ltd. |
