''Macrozamia'' is a genus of around forty 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 or ...
s, family
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 Americ ...
, all of which are
endemic to
Australia. Many parts of the plant have been utilised for food and material, most of which is toxic if not processed correctly.
Description
A genus 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 or ...
s with partially submerged bole or tree, small to medium height, bearing a crown of palm-like fronds. The
dioecious plants bear large cones, becoming even larger when ripening on the female, containing reproductive parts of great size.
Distribution
The greatest diversity of species occurs in eastern Australia, in southeast
Queensland and
New South Wales, with one species in the
Macdonnell Ranges of
Northern Territory and three in the
southwest region of Australia.
Taxonomy
The first description of the genus was published in 1842 by
Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel in his ''Monographia Cycadearum'', without designating a type.
The common name "burrawang", originally referring to ''M. communis'' in the
Daruk Australian Aboriginal language, is often used for all the species in the genus.
Informal names published in state listing for the genus include 'rickets' (Bailey, 1931) in Queensland, a name also used in Western Australia for the symptoms of ingestion of species by cattle,
and terms zamia, zamia palm, burrawang palm (Ross, 1989) and djeeri (Hopper, 2014) continued to be noted by New South Wales, QLD and W.A. authors in specific and generic usages.
[APNI cite: Bailey, F.M. (1913), ''Comprehensive Catalogue of Queensland Plants'': 513 ]
Species
References
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External links
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{{Taxonbar, from=Q138789
Endemic flora of Australia
Cycadophyta of Australia
Taxa named by Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel