Need an Encephalartos ID please.

[Mandrew968]

I am taking a class in Horticulture and during the class we visited a farm in Homestead. I saw this Cycad that looked a bit neglected. I asked the owner about it and he knew it was an Encephalartos but not the species. He told me he thought it was a male and that it came from Fairchild during the 60's. The trunk is about 3 feet tall and almost that wide. No pups I could see... Thanks in advance!

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Hard to tell when looking at pictures of shaded cycads that aren't exactly the picture of health. From what I see it looks more like an Altensteinii than any other common Encephalartos.  I am sure some of the California guys will be able to ID it better than I can.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

What is the caudex diameter without the leaf bases? 

[Tracy]

1 hour ago, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

From what I see it looks more like an Altensteinii

I like your guess, but I'm not an expert.  If you said it with more authority, I would have believed you though.  This does resemble many of the established E altensteinii at Quail Botanical Gardens here in Encinitas, CA (oops now renamed San Diego Botanical Gardens).

[Mandrew968]

This plant is from the 60's. Fairchild gave these out to a few people... If it were altensteinii, wouldn't it be bigger and with some other heads? I can't go and measure the caudex but it is about three feet tall and about two feet wide.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Altensteinii will have a very thick caudex.  Mine is 16" diameter and only 24" tall.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Could be munchii or manikensis. Munchii would be much rarer. 

[5150cycad]

I have manikensis and munchii which both have  pretty distinct traits that I don't see in the pictures posted. I am no expert, with that being said, I was just looking at some pictures of my encephalartos Sclavoi. The way the leaflets turn down in the picture seems like a similar trait to Sclavoi.  It is obviously very neglected and probably isn't showing its real characteristics as a healthy one would. I have seen neglected cycads look like something completely different only because it wasnt healthy. Andrew, were there any spines on the leaves that you noticed? 

[cycadjungle]

Looks a lot like a villosus. It would be fat like you mentioned too. I'll look around at some plants tomorrow to check out leaflets. If the cone is yellow or greenish yellow, it would be good to know.  Tom

[Mandrew968]

Tom, I thought villosus too but one half that age would have a ton of heads and this guy was solitary and too large a caudex for what I know as villosus...

[cycadjungle]

Not all villosus plants will cluster. I have a villosus half that age that has a single, 20 inch diameter stem. You have to identify the leaves and cones, you never let size of a plant that age cloud your judgement.

[Palm Tree Jim]

A close up of the leaf structure would be extremely helpful in identification.

 

[Mandrew968]

2 hours ago, cycadjungle said:

Not all villosus plants will cluster. I have a villosus half that age that has a single, 20 inch diameter stem. You have to identify the leaves and cones, you never let size of a plant that age cloud your judgement.

Well Tom, I initially thought it looked like villosus; if you say villosus can be solitary with a three foot tall trunk, that's my guess on what it is.

[cycadjungle]

I went out and looked at the cycads, and I'm going with villosus. That have those same falcate leaflets. The other possibility was umbeluziensis, but the leaflets aren't the same.

[cfkingfish]

To me, that looks like E. sclavoi with wider recurved leaves than umbeluziensis, and with a lack of armament. It is hard to believe that plant is 50 years old for any of these species though. Could be due to shade and not much fertilizer. 

[5150cycad]

20 hours ago, cfkingfish said:

To me, that looks like E. sclavoi with wider recurved leaves than umbeluziensis, and with a lack of armament. It is hard to believe that plant is 50 years old for any of these species though. Could be due to shade and not much fertilizer. 

I thought it was sclavoi as well. Al in Kona recently posted a picture of an Encephalartos Sclavoi  in his garden and it looks very similar to the one in Andrew's post. Photograph below is from Al in Kona's post. 

Edited November 5, 2016 by 5150cycad
add words

[Mandrew968]

On 11/4/2016, 8:24:54, cfkingfish said:

To me, that looks like E. sclavoi with wider recurved leaves than umbeluziensis, and with a lack of armament. It is hard to believe that plant is 50 years old for any of these species though. Could be due to shade and not much fertilizer. 

I agree it's hard to believe how little growth it has... But I believe the owner. The ground is no doubt almost all rock with weeds and shade all over it.

[Tracy]

On 10/11/2016, 6:54:45, Palm Tree Jim said:

A close up of the leaf structure would be extremely helpful in identification.

 

4 hours ago, Mandrew968 said:

I agree it's hard to believe how little growth it has... But I believe the owner.

Just to reiterate what Jim said previously, a closeup of the leaf structure would be helpful.  If it's not convenient for you to get more photos, perhaps the owner can take a couple and send them to you.  I'm not growing villosus, but from what I have read, it likes shade, again raising the question about it's size at this age.  If it were a more sun loving variety, it would make sense that the shade would stunt it's growth.  It will be interesting to see the mystery unfold.  A fun post!

[GeneAZ]

The petiole has prickles.  It's villosus.  Probably caffer form that rarely offsets or divides the meristem.

[GeneAZ]

I would like more images of the trunk and apex detail cleaned up, because there's a chance this could be aemulans as well.