Tropical Plant Database - Plant Details

Cycads are an ancient group of seed plants with a crown of large compound leaves and a stout trunk. Cycads are dioecious plants, or in other words, there are separate male and female plants. The female plant produces the seeds, and the male produces cones with pollen in them.
Queen Sago is often the focal point in a large yard. The Sago Palm is not a palm, but a cycad. Cycads are known to be among the oldest group of seed plants on earth, surviving unchanged for millions of years.
The feathery leaves of this species arranged in a rosette pattern add a sense of the tropics to the landscape. The leaves are bright green, semiglossy, 150-250 cm long, flat (not keeled) in section (opposing leaflets inserted at 180° on rachis), with 170 leaflets, tomentum shedding as leaf expands. The Queen Sago does not branch whereas the King Sago, Cycas revoluta, creates many heads branching off from the main trunk and also from sprouts at ground level. Male Sago plants develop a cone approximately 30 cm tall coming from the center of the top. The cone is white or yellow, rounded and produces abundant pollen.
The seeds are quite large and are brown or yellow and are displayed on the feather-like seed-bearing leaves. The seeds have a spongy layer that allows them to float on water. As a slow growing plant, the seed can take from 6–18 months to germinate. Queen Sago is pollinated by a species of weevil, which finds protection in the plant's cone and seed-bearing leaves.
(Good, D. 2001. Cycads of Africa.)
(Jones, D.L. 2002. Cycads of the World.)
(Haynes, Jody L. 2004. Virtual Cycad Encyclopedia.)

Queen Sago contains neurotoxins that can paralyze or kill livestock that graze on the plant.
(Good, D. 2001. Cycads of Africa.)
(Jones, D.L. 2002. Cycads of the World.)
(Haynes, Jody L. 2004. Virtual Cycad Encyclopedia.)

Cycas circinalis is now known to be an Indian endemic, restricted to the Western Ghats, in the states of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and the south of Maharashtra. It typically occurs in fairly dense, seasonally dry scrubby woodlands in hilly areas. Many trees in this habitat lose their leaves in the dry season, and Cycas circinalis is also facultatively deciduous in extremely dry times.
(Good, D. 2001. Cycads of Africa.)
(Jones, D.L. 2002. Cycads of the World.)
(Haynes, Jody L. 2004. Virtual Cycad Encyclopedia.)

A type of flour can be made from the seeds of Queen sago. However, consumption of the flour may result in a neurological disorder because of the neurotoxins content.
(Good, D. 2001. Cycads of Africa.)
(Jones, D.L. 2002. Cycads of the World.)
(Haynes, Jody L. 2004. Virtual Cycad Encyclopedia.)

The surface of the Queen Sago trunk wood has much texture and grooves from the leaf bases, a feature that allows the trunk to be planted with orchids.
Cycad pollination was long thought to be a chance event, effected only by the wind. This was especially troublesome for understanding the success of understory cycads in tropical forests, where there is little wind, and where pollen studies have shown that there is almost no cycad pollen in the air. More recent investigations have suggested that beetles, especially weevils, and small bees may make a more important contribution to the transfer of pollen. Studies have also shown that some cycads at least will produce heat or odors to attract these animal vectors.
The seeds of certain cycads are quite large, and are often brightly colored in red, purple, and yellow. These colorful seeds are displayed as the cone matures and the seed-bearing leaves separate from each other. The colors attract birds and a variety of mammals which disperse the seeds.
One of the more novel biotic interactions among plants is an association with photosynthetic bacteria, such as Anabaena. In cycads, the cyanobacteria are sheltered in specially modified roots which have the appearance of coral, and so are called coralloid roots. These roots grow up out of the soil, rather than down into it, and are thus exposed to light which the cyanobacteria need. In return for providing this stable habitat, the cycad acquires nitrogen nutrients from the bacteria.
(Good, D. 2001. Cycads of Africa.)
(Jones, D.L. 2002. Cycads of the World.)
(Haynes, Jody L. 2004. Virtual Cycad Encyclopedia.)

Cycad is the greek word for "palm" to which most cycads bear resemblance.

In India the Queen Sago is locally abundant in several areas, although the habitat has been severely reduced and degraded. Good populations still exist in a number of forests reserves.
Cycads are a minor component of the flora in tropical and subtropical regions today, but during the Jurassic Period, they were a common sight in many parts of the world. For this reason, the Jurassic is often referred to as the "Age of Cycads".
Today only a handful of cycads still exist, and many are facing possible extinction in the wild, such as Microcycas in western Cuba. However, because of their large attractive leaves, many cycads have found a home in public and private gardens around the world.
(Good, D. 2001. Cycads of Africa.)
(Jones, D.L. 2002. Cycads of the World.)
(Haynes, Jody L. 2004. Virtual Cycad Encyclopedia.)

We currently have 9 herbarium specimens for Cycas circinalis in our collection. Click on any specimen below to view the herbarium sheet data.

• 016340 - collected by E. Graeffe in Unknown
• 016392 - collected by E. Graeffe in Unknown
• 023908 - collected by T. Aguon in 1981
• 023910 - collected by L. Raulerson in 1982
• 023912 - collected by L. Quinata in 1987
• 024315 - collected by L. Raulerson in 1988
• 024346 - collected by A. Rinehart in 1988
• 023911 - collected by A. Rinehart in 1988
• Unassigned - collected by Tim Flynn in 1999