''Encephalartos kisambo'' is a species of cycad in the family Zamiaceae. It is known as the Voi cycad. This species is distributed in the

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...

s of the steep mountain hills at the border of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. Most grow in misty forest habitat, and some grow on drier rock cliffsides. Some subpopulations are threatened by habitat loss to

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

production and agriculture, and the species is threatened by overcollection.

Description

Encephalartos kisambo is an arborescent species, with

pachycaul Pachycauls are plants with a disproportionately thick Trunk (botany), trunk for their height, and few branches. This can be the product of exceptional primary growth (as with Arecaceae, palms and cycads) or disproportioate secondary growth as with ...

ous barrel-shaped trunks, with a stem 1.2-2 m high, erect or sometimes decombent, 45-52 cm in diameter. The pinnate dark green

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

leaves, arranged like a crown at the apex of the stem, are 240–360 cm long, silvery-green to bluish-green in color, with a 2.5–5 cm long petiole. They are formed by 89-96 pairs of oblong-lanceolate leaflets, opposite, 24–37 cm long and 29–37 mm broad, of leathery consistency, with spiny margin, inserted on the rachis with an angle of 45°. It is a dioecious species; the male specimens usually have 1 to 5 cones, cylinder-conical, creamy-yellow in color, 49–64 cm long and 10–12.5 cm in diameter; the female ones have from 1 to 5 cones, ovoid, 42–60 cm long, 16–20 cm in diameter, of an orange-yellow color. The seeds are ovoid, 30–39 mm long, covered with an orange-red flesh. File:Encephalartos kisambo-IMG 9672.JPG, Cone File:Voi cycad (Encephalartos kisambo).jpg, Leaves

Distribution

It is native to Kenya and Tanzania. On Mount Kanga, a hill of the

Nguru Mountains The Nguru Mountains are a mountain range in Morogoro Region, Tanzania, Africa. The Nguru Mountains are part of the Eastern Arc Mountains. The mountains are predominantly covered with rainforest, home to 83 species of birds (Romdal 2001) and Africa ...

in the

Mvomero district Mvomero is one of the six districts of the Morogoro Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the north by the Tanga Region, to the northeast by the Pwani Region, to the east and southeast by Morogoro Rural District and Morogoro Urban District and ...

, Morogoro, Tanzania. They are situated on the southern ridge and south eastern slopes of Mt. Kanga at an altitude between 1,000m and 1,300m.

References

External links

''Encephalartos kisambo''.
Tropicos. * * kisambo Plants described in 1990 Flora of Kenya Flora of Tanzania Taxa named by Henk Jaap Beentje {{cycad-stub