''Encephalartos ngoyanus'' 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 Ngoye Forest, in KwaZulu-Natal,
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 ...
.
Description
The stem is 30 cm high for a diameter of 15–20 cm. The leaves are 50 to 150 cm long, dark green in color, with leaflets that branch off opposite to an angle of 180° from the rachis and that are reduced to thorns towards the base of the leaf. It is a dioecious species, with yellow, ovoid male cones 20–25 cm long by 5–7 cm in diameter, and yellow, ovoid female cones 25 cm long by 12–15 cm in diameter. The seeds are oblong in shape, 25–30 mm long and 15–20 mm wide, with a red
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 ...
.
References
External links
*
*
ngoyanus
{{cycad-stub