Cycads   Encephalartos latifrons

Synonymy: Unknown Common Names: Unknown Habitat: Rocky slopes in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Description: A medium sized clumping cycad to about 3m tall, forming clumps of up to 8 stems. Leaves are bright green and glossy, and up to 1.5m long. General: An extremely desirable plant to collectors, with the result that poaching has reduced the wild population to such an extent that fertilisation no longer occurs, and hence seeds are no longer produced. Apparantly the last time a wild E. latifrons seeded was in 1925. Culture: An easy but very slow grower, liking a sunny spot in a well drained position.

Figure 1. E. latifrons seedling

Figure 2. E. latifrons

Figure 3. A cultivated E. latifrons which is about 700 years old,
from the collection of Dick Johnson of West Covina, Southern California.

Contributed by:	Jason Sampson (Figure 1&2)
	Tony Marsh (Figure 3)

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