''Encephalartos lebomboensis'' 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 ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Zamiaceae The Zamiaceae are a family of cycads that are superficially palm or fern-like. They are divided into two subfamilies with eight genera and about 150 species in the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Australia and North and South America. ...

. Native to the

Lebombo Mountains The Lebombo Mountains, also called Lubombo Mountains ( pt, Montes Libombos), are an , narrow range of mountains in Southern Africa. They stretch from Hluhluwe in KwaZulu-Natal in the south to Punda Maria in the Limpopo Province in South Africa in ...

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

, the species was first described in 1949 by the South African botanist Inez Verdoorn. It is commonly known as the Lebombo cycad, although the name is also used for ''

Encephalartos senticosus ''Encephalartos senticosus'' is a species of cycad in the family Zamiaceae native to the Lebombo Mountains of Mozambique, Eswatini (Swaziland), and the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Prior to its description in 1996, ''Encephalartos sent ...

'' which also occurs in the same locality.

Description

''Encephalartos lebomboensis'' has a trunk that is up to tall and thick; though the trunk is usually unbranched, suckers often form at the base and it sometimes bears offsets part way up. Often a number of stems form a clump. The crown of pinnate leaves are stiff, each having a mid to dark green glossy upper surface and paler under side. They are densely hairy at first but soon become hairless. They are long and wide, straight or slightly arched, either flat or with a slight keel. The leaflets are lanceolate and have serrated edges. They are up to long and wide, held at right angles to the

rachis In biology, a rachis (from the grc, ῥάχις [], "backbone, spine") is a main axis or "shaft". In zoology and microbiology In vertebrates, ''rachis'' can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this c ...

and slightly overlapping. Near the base of the leaves, the leaflets are reduced to prickles. ''E. lebomboensis'' is a

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 ...

species, that is, with separate male and female plants. Male specimens have one, or rarely two, short-stalked yellowish-orange cylindrical cones long and wide. Female specimens have one or rarely two barrel-shaped cones, long and wide, which are yellowish-green in colour. The seed coats are glossy red.

Distribution

''Encephalartos lebomboensis'' has two separate populations, one in the vicinity of Mananga in

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

province in South Africa and a southern population centred on

Piet Retief Pieter Mauritz Retief (12 November 1780 – 6 February 1838) was a ''Voortrekker'' leader. Settling in 1814 in the frontier region of the Cape Colony, he assumed command of punitive expeditions in response to raiding parties from the adjacent ...

ion in the upper Pongola River Valley. It is a very rare and endangered species and grows in sunny positions on cliffs and steep, rocky slopes among sparse vegetation. This region has hot, fairly wet summers and cool, dry winters with frequent mists. It is also native to

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

and

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

Taxonomy

The form of this cycad found in the southern locality differs in certain characteristics from that growing in its northern enclave and it is considered to be a separate species, ''

''. In 1996 ''E. senticosus'' was split from ''E. lebomboensis''.The Cycad Pages (January, 2010) The main differences between the two are in the number, size and form of the male and female cones.

Status

There are believed to be about 5,000 specimens of ''Encephalartos lebomboensis'' growing in the wild. It is a popular species with plant collectors and the

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

lists it as being "

Endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

" because of its over-exploitation and the degradation of its habitat due to the encroachment of agricultural land. It is listed in Appendix I of the CITES Appendices. It is widely available as a cultivated plant.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q310251 lebomboensis Flora of Mozambique Flora of KwaZulu-Natal Flora of Swaziland Flora of the Northern Provinces