''Cycas platyphylla'' is a

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

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

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 ...

. The stems are erect or decumbent, growing to 1.5 m tall but most often less than a metre. The

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 ...

are pinnate, keeled, 60–100 cm long. New fronds are glaucous blue at first, becoming dark yellow-green, moderately glossy above. Megasporophylls are thickly covered in orange indumentum and the developing seeds have an intensely glaucous sarcotesta.

Habitat

This cycad has a main distribution in sparse

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 ...

savanna on skeletal soils over outcrops of rhyolite or basalt west of the

Atherton Tableland The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia. The principal river flowing across the plateau is the Barron River. It was dammed to form an irrigation reservoir named Lake Tina ...

in north-east Queensland. This species is fire tolerant. It grows abundantly in cool habitat

Gallery

File:Cycas platyphylla specimen.JPG, Wild plant in open savanna in north Queensland File:Cycas platyphylla branched trunk.JPG, With fire-blackened, branched caudex File:Female megasporophylls of Cycas platyphylla.JPG, Megasporophylls on a wild plant File:Cycas platyphylla colony.JPG, Colony on an outcrop of rhyolite in open dry-tropical savanna in northern Queensland

References

Cycad Pages: ''Cycas platyphylla''The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: ''Cycas platyphylla''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3008231 platyphylla Flora of Queensland Cycadophyta of Australia Endemic flora of Australia Endangered flora of Australia