''Cycas zeylanica'', common name (in Sri Lanka) maha-madu is a plant apparently at present endemic to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It was formerly also present in

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 last remnants of the populations there were destroyed by the tsunami of December 2004. ''Cycas zeylanica'' is an unbranched shrub up to 3 m tall. Leaves are up to 200 cm long, green, glossy,

pinnately Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and in ...

compound with up to 100 leaflets. Pollen-producing cones fusiform (tapering at both ends),

microsporophyll 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 (male, pollen-producing) up to 45 mm long. Megasporophylls (female, ovule-producing) up to 30 cm long, each with 2-5 ovules. Seeds flattened to ovoid, orange-brown.Schuster, Julius. 1932. Das Pflanzenreich 99: 75, pl. 10C–D, llK–M.
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References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6857581 zeylanica Flora of the Andaman Islands Flora of the Nicobar Islands Flora of Sri Lanka Vulnerable flora of Asia 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami