''Encephalartos dyerianus'', known colloquially as the Lillie cycad, is a species of

cycad Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male o ...

that is native to hillsides in the

lowveld Veld ( or ), also spelled veldt, is a type of wide open rural landscape in :Southern Africa. Particularly, it is a flat area covered in grass or low scrub, especially in the countries of South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswa ...

of eastern

Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Description

This cycad's stem grows up to 4 m tall and 60 cm wide. Its leaves are 140–170 cm long, blue-silver, slightly inclined, with straight petioles containing up to six spines. Leaflets are 17–24 cm long, 13–18 mm wide, toothed, and form angles of 45-80° with the leaf. Near the base, leaflets turn into thorns. The spine is typically straight but can be slightly twisted. This species is dioecious, with male cones 30–50 cm long, 9–12 cm in diameter, and blue-green or yellow; female cones are 30–60 cm long, 10–20 cm in diameter, and also blue-green or yellow. Seeds are elongated, 40–45 mm long, 25–30 mm wide, with a yellow or orange-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 In biology, an integu ...

Range and habitat

It is native to the

of eastern Limpopo. It occurs on slopes of low granite hills in the Gravelotte Rocky Bushveld, in either open grassland or shrubland.

Status

It is listed under

CITES Appendix I CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of intern ...

, which implies that it is "most endangered" in its natural range. Some 600 plants remained in the wild during the 1970s, but this was further reduced during 2008. In addition to illegal collecting, an application for strip mining in

Selati Game Reserve The Selati Game Reserve is protected wildlife area situated between the towns of Gravelotte and Phalaborwa, in the Limpopo province of South Africa, the reserve has an area of about 30,000 ha. The most endangered Lillie cycad, listed under CI ...

is seen as a threat.

References

External links

* dyerianus {{cycad-stub