Encephalartos hirsutus

Encephalartos hirsutus is a species of cycad that is native to Limpopo Province, South Africa.[2] It was recorded from three separate localities on south-east-facing quartzite cliffs in the Makuya Nature Reserve bordering the Kruger National Park at altitudes ranging from 800 to 1 000 m asl.[3]

Encephalartos hirsutus

Critically endangered, possibly extinct  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Cycadophyta
Class: Cycadopsida
Order: Cycadales
Family: Zamiaceae
Genus: Encephalartos
Species:
E. hirsutus
Binomial name
Encephalartos hirsutus
P.J.H. Hurter 1996

Description

It is an arborescent cycad, with an erect stem, which becomes decumbent in older specimens, up to 4 m high and with a diameter of 35–40 cm. The leaves, pinnate, arranged in a crown at the apex of the stem, are 1.1-1.4 m long, supported by a petiole about 13 cm long, and composed of numerous pairs of elliptic leaflets and coriaceous, long 13– 17 cm, with entire margin and thorny apex, fixed on the rachis with an angle of about 40 °, reduced to thorns towards the base of the petiole. It is a dioecious species, with male specimens that have from 2 to 5 cylindrical-ovoid cones, erect, about 50 cm long and 9 cm broad, and female specimens with 1-3 ovoid cones, about 40 cm long and 35 cm broad, of glaucous green color, glabrous. The seeds are coarsely ovoid, 3–3.5 cm long, covered with an orange-red sarcotesta.[4]

  • Trunk
  • Leaves

References
  1. Donaldson, J.S. (2010). "Encephalartos hirsutus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2010: e.T41889A10570208. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-3.RLTS.T41889A10570208.en.
  2. "Encephalartos hirsutus in Tropicos".
  3. "Encephalartos hirsutus (Venda Cycad)". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 2017-08-01.
  4. "Encephalartos hirsutus". PlantNET Home Page - National Herbarium of New South Wales. 1994-06-07. Retrieved 2019-09-17.


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