''Cycas basaltica'' 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'', native to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, in the far north of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

region. The stems grow to 2 m (rarely 4 m) tall and 15–23 cm in diameter, with a swollen base and an enlarged subterranean structure. There are 30 or more

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 ...

in the crown, forming a bowl shaped, inward facing leaf crown, each leaf 80–125 cm long, pinnate, with 140-210 leaflets. Younger plants have spiny petioles, with older specimens losing this trait. The leaflets are covered with a dense layer of silver hairs, angled forward at 70-80°. The basal leaflets are reduced to spines, similar to '' Cycas revoluta''. The taproot is contractile, and tends to pull crown downwards. The female cones are open, with sporophylls 17–24 cm long, densely red-brown tomentose. Yellowish-brown

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, and there are no aril ...

, glabrous and/or

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), g ...

. The male cones are solitary and erect, narrow conical, 18–24 cm long and 7–9 cm diameter.

Habitat

It is named after the

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 ...

ic volcanic rock soils it is typically found growing on, where it occurs in

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

groves near the Drysdale and Lawley Rivers, and nearby offshore islands. Conservation status secure.

References

Cycad Pages: ''Cycas basaltica''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5197918 basaltica Cycadophyta of Australia Endemic flora of Western Australia Least concern flora of Australia Taxa named by Charles Gardner