''Cycas bifida'' (syn. ''Cycas rumphii'' var. ''bifida'') 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 ...

plant in the genus '' Cycas'', native to southern China (southern

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 eastern

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 ...

), and northern Vietnam ( Cao Bằng,

Lạng Sơn Lạng Sơn () is a city in far northern Vietnam, which is the capital of Lạng Sơn Province. It is accessible by road and rail from Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, and it is the northernmost point on National Route 1. History Due to its ge ...

and

Tuyên Quang Tuyên Quang () is a city in Vietnam, and is the capital of Tuyên Quang Province. History The French post at Tuyên Quang was defended for four months against 12,000 troops of the Yunnan Army and the Black Flag Army by two companies of the Fre ...

provinces). The stems are largely subterranean, 20–60 cm in diameter and up to 20 cm above ground level, and bear three to eight leaves. The leaves are 2–4 m long and 40–80 cm broad, dark green and glossy,

bipinnate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

, with 27-44 pairs of leaflets, each leaflet dichotomously divided (split in two), linear, 10–38 cm long and 1.5–3 cm broad, papery to leathery in texture; the leaf petiole is 0.5–2 m long, armed with spikes. The female cones are closed, the sporophylls 8–12 cm long, with deep red-brown tomentose down, and 6-8 ovules on an ovate lamina, with yellow to yellow-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 ...

. Ovoid and flattened

sclerotesta This page provides a glossary of plant morphology. Botanists and other biologists who study plant morphology use a number of different terms to classify and identify plant organs and parts that can be observed using no more than a handheld magnify ...

. The male cones are solitary and erect, spindle shaped and cylindrical 15-23 long and 4–6 cm broad, with light yellow tomentose down and an erect apical spine with 1.2–2 cm sporophylls with 1-3 minute teeth per side. The species is named after its dichotomously divided leaflets, a character shared with a few other related species. It has been extensively confused in literature with the related species '' Cycas multifrondis'' and ''

Cycas micholitzii ''Cycas micholitzii'' is a species of cycad in Vietnam and Laos. References

Cycas, micholitzii Flora of Vietnam Flora of Laos {{cycad-stub ...

'' (K. D. Hill, Cycad Pages); in the ''Flora of China'', it is treated as ''Cycas micholitzii'', a species restricted by Hill to plants from central Vietnam and Laos. '' Cycas longipetiolula'', which is often considered synonymous with ''Cycas bifida'' but may have hybridized with ''

Cycas multipinnata ''Cycas multipinnata'' (or ''Epicycas multipinnata'') is a species of cycad (faily Cycadaceae) in southwestern China and northern Vietnam. It is noteworthy for three things: First it is one of the tuberous species which some taxonomists segregate ...

'', is only found in cultivation in Jinping County,

.Zheng Y, Liu J, Feng X, Gong X. 2017. The distribution, diversity, and conservation status of ''Cycas'' in China. Ecol Evol. 2017;7:3212–3224. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2910

Habitat

It is native to areas of dense

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

woodlands or mixed

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

forest near

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

outcroppings. Some of its native locations are on the site of various clashes over the border of Vietnam and China, and still contains numerous

land mine A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...

fields, protecting the species from poaching. The Longgang Nature Reserve in

Longzhou Longzhou County Zhuang: ''Lungzcouh Yen'') is a county of southwestern Guangxi, China, bordering Cao Bằng province, Vietnam. It is under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Chongzuo. Longzhou lies in a circular valley at ...

, China was established for the protection of this cycad, of which the Chinese populations are considered endangered. It is rarely found in cultivation.

References

Cycad Pages: ''Cycas bifida''Flora of China
(as ''C. micholitzii'' auct. non Dyer) {{Taxonbar, from=Q386464 bifida Flora of Vietnam Flora of Yunnan Flora of Guangxi Vulnerable flora of Asia Plants described in 2004