''Ceratozamia morettii'' is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

in the family

Zamiaceae The Zamiaceae are a family of cycads that are superficially palm or fern-like. They are divided into two subfamilies with eight genera and about 150 species in the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Australia and North and South America. ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, where it is limited to the state of

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

north of

Jalapa Xalapa or Jalapa (, ), officially Xalapa-Enríquez (), is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and the municipality of which ...

. It grows on steep clay and

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

cliffs in

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...

habitat. This

cycad Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk (botany), trunk with a crown (botany), crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants o ...

is palm-like in appearance but with a trunk no more than 30 centimeters long, often shorter, and quite variable in shape. It has up to 10 leaves which are up to 140 centimeters long by 65 wide and are made up of 12 to 25 pairs of leaflets.Vázquez-Torres, M., & Vovides, A. P. (1998)
A new species of ''Ceratozamia'' (Zamiaceae) from Veracruz, Mexico.
''Novon'' 87-90. Other native plants in this species' nearly inaccessible cloud forest habitat include ''

Alnus jorullensis ''Alnus jorullensis'', commonly known as Mexican alder, is an evergreen or semi-evergreen alder, native to eastern and southern Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. Although previously reported from the Andes, further collections showed these to be th ...

'', ''

Clethra mexicana ''Clethra'' is a genus of flowering shrubs or small trees described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753.Dendropanax arboreus ''Dendropanax'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family (biology), family Araliaceae, consisting of 92 species of evergreen trees and shrubs, first described by Joseph Decaisne & Jules Émile Planchon in 1854.Decaisne, J. & Planchon, J.E. (1 ...

'', '' Dicksonia gigantea'', '' Ilex discolor'', ''

Liquidambar macrophylla American sweetgum (''Liquidambar styraciflua''), also known as American storax, hazel pine, bilsted, redgum, satin-walnut, star-leaved gum, alligatorwood, or simply sweetgum, is a deciduous tree in the genus ''Liquidambar'' native to warm temper ...

'', ''

Magnolia schiedeana ''Magnolia schiedeana'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Magnoliaceae. It is endemic to Mexico, where it occurs along the slopes of the Gulf of Mexico. Description ''Magnolia schiedeana'' is a tree growing up to 25 meters tall. It f ...

'', '' Marattia laxa'', ''

Oreopanax capitatus ''Oreopanax'' is a genus of shrubs and trees in the family Araliaceae, comprising circa 85 species native to the Americas. Distribution ''Oreopanax'' species' range extends from Mexico and the Antilles to Argentina and Brazil, with most species ...

'', '' Ostrya virginiana'', and ''

Podocarpus guatemalensis ''Podocarpus guatemalensis'' is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. Its common names include ''ocotillo de llano'', ''cypress de montaña'', ''cipresillo'', ''alfajillo'', ''pinillo'', ''palo de oro'', and ''piño de montaña''. D ...

''.

References

morettii Endemic flora of Mexico Flora of Veracruz Endangered plants Endangered biota of Mexico Plants described in 1998 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Cycad-stub