''Encephalartos laurentianus'', commonly called the malele or Kwango giant cycad, is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
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 ...
that is native to northern
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
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, coordina ...
and southern Congo (Zaire), mostly along the Kwango River. It is the largest of all cycads, with multiple stems both upright and prostrate, each as much as in length, and bearing a rosette of massive once-pinnate fronds up to 25 feet (eight meters) in length, in width, and with a
petiole or stalk up to thick where it joins the stem or trunk. Each stem can be up to in thickness. This is also said to be the fastest growing cycad, producing up to five "flushes" (rosettes, or clusters) of leaves each year.
The species was discovered in 1902 by Louis Gentil.
References
External links
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laurentianus
Taxa named by Émile Auguste Joseph De Wildeman
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