Cycad Plant by Kaye Menner
by Kaye Menner
Title
Cycad Plant by Kaye Menner
Artist
Kaye Menner
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Leaves and female cone of Cycas revoluta
Cycas revoluta, sago palm, king sago, sago cycad, Japanese sago palm, is a species of gymnosperm in the family Cycadaceae, native to southern Japan including the Ryukyu Islands. It is one of several species used for the production of sago, as well as an ornamental plant.
This very symmetrical plant supports a crown of shiny, dark green leaves on a thick shaggy trunk that is typically about 20 cm (7.9 in) in diameter, sometimes wider. The trunk is very low to subterranean in young plants, but lengthens above ground with age. It can grow into very old specimens with 6-7 m (over 20 feet) of trunk; however, the plant is very slow-growing and requires about 50-100 years to achieve this height. Trunks can branch multiple times, thus producing multiple heads of leaves.
The leaves are a deep semiglossy green and about 50-150 cm (20-59 in) long when the plants are of a reproductive age. They grow out into a feather-like rosette to 1 m (3.3 ft) in diameter. The crowded, stiff, narrow leaflets are 8-18 cm (3.1-7.1 in) long and have strongly recurved or revolute edges. The basal leaflets become more like spines. The petiole or stems of the sago cycad are 6-10 cm (2.4-3.9 in) long and have small protective barbs that must be avoided.
Roots are called coralloid with an Anabaena symbiosis allowing nitrogen fixation. Tannins-rich cells are found on either side of the algal layer to resist the algal invasion.
As with other cycads, it is dioecious, with the males bearing pollen cones (strobilus) and the females bearing groups of megasporophylls. Pollination can be done naturally by insects or artificially.
Uploaded
September 11th, 2016
Statistics
Viewed 21,880 Times - Last Visitor from Fairfield, CT on 04/25/2024 at 3:04 PM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet
Comments (6)
Kaye Menner
Many thanks Pamela for your comment and for featuring my image in the ABC Group - P is for Plant. It was a pleasure to view more of your new artwork and I left a few L/F's in appreciation.
Luther Fine Art
Congratulations! Your marvelous art has been featured on the Home Page of the ABC Group. This art has been selected from the ABC Group's P IS FOR PLANT themed week. You are invited to add this to the features archive discussion and in another discussion in ABC Group!