Cycad: Encephalartos Arenarius!!
I bought a beautiful Encephalartos Arenarius Cycad more than 10 years ago from a dentist, who told me it was a female. Finally after 10 years, the plant produced a cone and it surely was a female. As luck would have it my son's girlfriend's father work at the University of Pretoria, and guess at what department - Botany !! He has a colleague who works with Cycads at the Botany department and they had pollen for this specific plant, which he gave to me so that I could pollinate this plant. The photo above shows the cone, with some seeds still on the cone, and below you can see some of the seeds that came loose from the cone.
Cycads are very interesting plants, that have fossils dating back more than 280 million years. These plants are male or female, and a number of species are extinct in the wild and very rare. In South-Africa we need permits to keep these plants to prevent poaching of plants from the wild.
Cycads normally only get new leaves once a year, but then they get a number of leaves at once, on the photo above you can see some new leaves coming out next to the new cone!! Below these leaves are already a bit older.
Below you can see the leaves at almost full length, just look at that beautiful color!!
Below, you can see the female cone from up close. You can see a bit of the orange seeds sticking out!!
Below is an even closer photo!!
Below you can see a closeup photo of the new leaves, just see those thorns. The leaves become quite hard when older, and it is really difficult to work with the plants without being hurt by those thorns!!
The cone takes around a year from pollinated until the seeds are ripe and start falling from the cone, this was a real long wait. The man from the University are going to take most of the seeds to plant at the University to ensure we have a better chance of the plants growing, the University will then keep 40% of the plants and I will get the rest, which I will share with my sons, girlfriend's father and some family and friends!!
You can read more about the amazing Arenarius Cycad by clicking on the link.
You can also read more about:
Cycads
Cycads of South-Africa by following the links
I hope you liked my post as much as I enjoyed writing it!!
All photos, were taken with my iPhone at my house, in Pretoria, South-Africa.
@rynow,
Wow this is so interesting! It's amazed to hear this plant has survived 280 Millions of years! I think that seeds are a bless! Can't you sell them? I think it might be a precious for all Botany lovers!
Cheers~
I will be able to sell the plants when they start growing.
Wow, this is an interesting post! Thanks for all the pictures from different angles as this is a very interesting type of plants. I didn't know there is such permit for this kind of special plants.
Yes, they are quite special, I love them.
The cycads are very interesting indeed. I have never seen the seeds before!
Yes, I love them, they are great plants to have.
Oh yeah @rynow, these plants are very beautiful and nice to look at them!
What an interesting plant, of course it must be preserved. Thank you for the information.
Excellent photos and your plants are delicious! Thank you @rynow
Beautiful photography @rynow sir.
The fruit is very much similar like pineapple!
wow,really very fantastic cycads plants.specially this food looks to very beautifull.nature alltime big part of our environment.its big create of god.i love always nature beauty and this time u showing this plant fruits.its so nice..its very good news that this plants is 1o years ago..obviously you click a perfect style when you captuing this plant pictire.its express doing your giving all pics.this is a excellent shots photography dear..thanks to sharing for your awesome creativity knowledge skills thought post.very well done.may god bless you.have a great day..my dear friend.. @rynow
Great show, I like i
I really like this post
Wow... indeed the wheel itself is a piece of art! Beautiful close up picture!
Wonderful food photography. Thanks for share
Congratulations!!!!
Excellent naturr photography.. I like your amazing photography.. Dear @rynow.
Thank you so much.
Nice creature, All praise belongs to God.
Excellent photography.. Dear @rynow..
Excellent nature photography
really awesome to look at
fabulous one
I love natural beauty
Very nice i like it
That's really great
So beautiful posting
Wow great that you went there will be looking forward to check out the next post about it
What beautiful plants for sure in your garden look great
Postingan-postingan yang sangat bagus @rynow,, saya sangat suka dengan postingan anda
Terima kasih banyak atas komentarnya yang sangat bagus.
Sama-sama saudaraku @rynow
Wow. What an interesting and beautiful plant.
I have never seen one or heard of it, so thank you for sharing this amazing nature plant with us.
You are welcome, there are not many of these plants around!
What a strange and beautiful plant. Is that eaten?
The plants are actually poisonous when eaten, you can read more about it by following this link Cycads. There are however ways to prepare it to remove the poison, but I will definitely not try it.
I would not try either, friend @rynow, that would be like the puffer fish, even if you take away the poison, there is always the risk of eating it.
Amazing dear @rynow. You posted it before and finally you bought it. Nice
Friend, how are you? this plant is exotic and it is beautiful I can see because its price is so high
Yes, they are quite rare, I love them.
Friend, how are you? This plant is strange and very beautiful I see why they auction it and the prices are so high
Having it at home should be like having a treasure
You are right, this one is a real treasure to me.
it is very beautiful nature!
Hello Friend! What a wonderful plant, it is so exotic and strange. congratulations because at last you could verify is a woman for her cone.
@rynow, It's very awesome plant I see now. Well introduction with nice photo clicks.
Thank you so much for the nice comment.
love to read it.
This is really cool.
It's looking like pineapple
Cycad is amazing.
Agreed.
This is pretty awesome.
Pretty cool plants.
just beautiful!
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wow seeing it for the first time beautiful pics thanks for sharing that
Postigan yang sagat indah bang @rynow,,semoga sukses berkarya di aplikasi ini semoga harimu besok menyenangkan bang @rynow
Terima kasih banyak atas komentarnya yang sangat bagus.
Wow, really impressive gardening impressions @rynow, keep it up!
Thank you so much for the very nice comment, I love these cycads.
omg is that pineapple amazing 😍😍
It is a Cycad.
thanks but dont you think from outside its too similiar to pineapple ?
So beautiful to see . I love those plants. Have a lovely evening
For sure, it's an great plant and, as you said for sure it holds the unique and interesting essence. And there are many plants which literally can amaze us. Stay blessed. 🙂
I read too many "below"s hahah
interesting though
at first I thought it was a Nipa fruit
can you eat that, too?
we do eat the Nipa fruits
they're sweet
The plant is actually poisonous, but I googled that people do actually eat it, but it must first be fermented to eliminate the poison. I will definitely not try to eat it.
I see
tha nks for the info
Well said @rynow and we must always follow God!