''Cycas circinalis'', also known as the queen sago, 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 ...

known in the wild only from southern India. ''Cycas circinalis'' is the only gymnosperm species found among native Sri Lankan flora.

Taxonomy

''C. circinallis'' is native to southern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, but the species name was formerly widely used for similar cycads in Southeast Asia, which leads to confusion in modern sources. The specimens described as "''C. circinallis''" in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

is now recognized as ''

Cycas rumphii ''Cycas rumphii'', commonly known as queen sago or the queen sago palm, is a dioecious gymnosperm, a species of cycad in the genus ''Cycas'' native to Indonesia, New Guinea and Christmas Island. Although palm-like in appearance, it is not a palm ...

''; while the taxon formerly described as the subspecies ''C. circinallis'' ssp. ''riuminiana'' from the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

is now regarded as a separate species, '' Cycas riuminiana''.

Cultivation

The plant is widely cultivated in Hawaii, both for its appearance in landscape and interiors, and for cut foliage. File:Cycas circinalis - sago palm - desc-top of trunk.jpg, Male cone, new File:Cycas circinalis 002.JPG, Male cone, old File:Cycas circinalis at Kadavoor.jpg, Young

shoot In botany, a plant shoot consists of any plant stem together with its appendages, leaves and lateral buds, flowering stems, and flower buds. The new growth from seed germination that grows upward is a shoot where leaves will develop. In the spri ...

s File:Starr 080716-9532 Cycas circinalis.jpg, Seed File:ഈന്തിൽകായ.jpg, Collected seeds File:Cycas circinalis112.jpg, Young plant as seen in forest File:Cycas circinalis111.jpg, Leaf

Use as food

The seed is poisonous. The potent poison in the seeds is removed by soaking them in water. Water from the first seed-soaking will kill birds, goats, sheep and hogs. Water from the following soakings is said to be harmless. inimum of 5 Soakings needed to ensure the safety After the final soaking, the seeds are dried and ground into flour. The flour is used to make

tortilla A tortilla (, ) is a thin, circular unleavened flatbread originally made from maize hominy meal, and now also from wheat flour. The Aztecs and other Nahuatl speakers called tortillas ''tlaxcalli'' (). First made by the indigenous peoples of Me ...

tamales A tamale, in Spanish tamal, is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of masa, a dough made from nixtamalized corn, which is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf. The wrapping can either be discarded prior to eating or used as a plate. Tamales ...

, soup and porridge.

Lytico-bodig disease

The plant was thought to be linked with the degenerative disease lytico-bodig on the island of

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

; however, the cycad native to Guam has since been recognised as a separate species, '' Cycas micronesica'', by K.D. Hill in 1994.

Chemistry

Leaflets of ''C. circinalis'' contain

biflavonoid Biflavonoids are a type of flavonoids with the general formula scheme (C6-C3-C6)2. Examples * Amentoflavone (bis-apigenin coupled at 8 and 3' positions) * Lophirone L and lophirone M found in ''Lophira alata'' * Sulcatone A, a naturally occur ...

s such as (2S, 2′′S)-2,3,2′′,3′′-tetrahydro-4′,4′′′-di-O-methylamentoflavone ( tetrahydroisoginkgetin).Phytochemical Investigation of Cycas circinalis and Cycas revoluta Leaflets: Moderately Active Antibacterial Biflavonoids. Abeer Moawad, Mona Hetta, Jordan K. Zjawiony, Melissa R. Jacob, Mohamed Hifnawy, Jannie P. J. Marais and Daneel Ferreira, Planta Med., 2010, 76(8), pages 796-802,

References

External links

Floridata: ''Cycas circinalis''

EDIS: Queen sago

USDA Plants Profile

University of Hawai'i at Manoa: King and Queen Sago
{{Taxonbar, from=Q161198 circinalis Non-timber forest products Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora of India (region)