Bark
Stout, erect and usually unbranched, with persistent leaf bases and prominent scars.
Cycas circinalis
Syn. Cycas wallichii
IUCN Red List
Endangered
(EN)
Local name
- Queen Sago (English)
- Goddeechal (Kannada)
CITES status: Appendix II
Tree type
Evergreen
Deciduous
Family: Cycadaceae
7m
Indicated uses
Medicinal
Edible
Ornamental
Avenue
Other
Flowering & fruiting
Flowering
Fruiting
Key characters
Leaves
Dark-green pinnate leaves reach 8 ft long, bearing narrow, foot-long leaflets that curve downward; new leaves emerge light green, leaves reach 2.4 m long.
Male cone
Male and female reproductive cones develop on separate plants in late winter, with pollen from male cones fertilizing female cones.
Female cone
The female plants produce large orange seeds in a cone-like structure located in the center of the rosette of leaves. Female plants carry a loose crown of orange seeds on leaf-like scales. The seeds are toxic.
Did you know?
The leaves show circinate vernation—young leaves are tightly coiled and gradually unroll as they develop. Hence derived from the Latin word circinatus, meaning “coiled” or “circular.”
Distribution
S. India