''Cycas balansae'' is a species of

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 ...

in the genus ''

Cycas ''Cycas'' is a genus of plants belonging to a very ancient lineage, the Cycadophyta, which are not closely related to palms, ferns, trees or any other modern group of plants. They are evergreen perennials which achieved their maximum diversity in ...

'', native to southwestern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(southeast

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...

) and adjacent northern

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

(near

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

), where it occurs in dense mountain rainforests. It has a subterranean, unbranched stem 12–20 cm in diameter, bearing 4-9

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

, each leaf 1.2-2.6 m long, pinnate with 90-160 leaflets, and armed with spines along the petiole. The leaflets are papery in texture, and angled forward at 80 degrees. The female

cones A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines conn ...

are closed type, 8–12 cm long

sporophyll A sporophyll is a leaf that bears sporangia. Both microphylls and megaphylls can be sporophylls. In heterosporous plants, sporophylls (whether they are microphylls or megaphylls) bear either megasporangia and thus are called megasporophylls, or mi ...

s with 2-4 ovules. Lateral spines present in

lamina Lamina may refer to: Science and technology * Planar lamina, a two-dimensional planar closed surface with mass and density, in mathematics * Laminar flow, (or streamline flow) occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers, with no disruption betwee ...

, apical spines not distinct, with yellow

sarcotesta The sarcotesta is a fleshy seedcoat, a type of testa. Examples of seeds with a sarcotesta are pomegranate and some cycad seeds. The sarcotesta of pomegranate seeds consists of epidermal cells derived from the integument In biology, an integu ...

. The male cones are yellow, solitary, erect, 20–25 cm long and 4–7 cm diameter, with wedge shaped sporophylls.

Range

In northeastern Vietnam, ''Cycas balansae'' is found in

Lang Son Lang may refer to: *Lang (surname), a surname of independent Germanic or Chinese origin Places * Lang Island (Antarctica), East Antarctica * Lang Nunatak, Antarctica * Lang Sound, Antarctica * Lang Park, a stadium in Brisbane, Australia * Lang, ...

, Vinh Phuc,

Thai Nguyen Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode bloc ...

, and Quang Ninh provinces. In

, China, it is found in the Shiwan Dashan (mountains). In

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

, China, it is found in Jingping, Maguan, and Pingbian counties.Whitelock, Loran M. 2002. ''The Cycads''. Portland: Timber Press.

Cultivation

It is cultivated as a pot plant in its native range, but is not seen with any frequency outside of this area. It is named after the French botanist

Benedict Balansa Benjamin Balansa Gaspard Joseph Benedict Balansa, also known as Benjamin Balansa or Benedict Balansa (25 March 1825 – 2 November 1891) was a French botanist. Born in Narbonne in 1825, Balansa made numerous collecting trips for the Muséum nati ...

References

Cycad Pages: ''Cycas balansae''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3284527 balansae Flora of Guangxi Flora of Vietnam Flora of China Near threatened plants Plants described in 1900