Cycas ID? Possibly C. Simplicipinna?

[Merlyn]

I bought three pots of these Cycas from PT member ChuckG a month ago, and he thinks that they were a China species in the SW area.  He had bought some Multipinnata and Debao seeds and some turned out to obviously NOT be either of those.  But they are neat!  I bought a couple of them, this is the largest pot.  @NATEtures Domain picked up a couple also, and neither of us know exactly what it is.  My best guess was Simplicipinna, due to the consistent single leaves and relatively giant frond length.  The older shade grown ones are 8-9' long and the new vertical ones in mostly sun are about 6' long.  It seems to tolerate a lot of sun here in FL, the mottling on the older leaves seems to be just a nutritional thing and not sunburn.  It's getting full sun until 10AM, then filtered to 2PM, and full sun after 2PM to sunset.  Here's some photos for reference. 

And yes, it has a massive scale infestation.  I've washed off what I could, but I didn't want to mess with the new flush before it hardens off.  I'll wash off the rest, spray with Acephate/Malathion and soil drench with Dinotefuran.

Here's the whole plant:

And an old leaf showing some nutritional problems:

And the end of the same older leaf:

Here's the caudex with the massive scale infestations:

[Merlyn]

The new flush is kind of odd.  Instead of "unfurling" from a roll, they seem to have started as just crunched up ribbons that slowly get longer, straighter and wider.  Scratch that, it is really, really odd looking.  They look scraggly as hell but the lower ones are slowly straightening out.  Here's the lower half:

And the middle from a different angle:

And the tip sillhouetted against the sky, because it's about 8 feet up at the moment.

Edited August 26, 2020 by Merlyn2220

[Merlyn]

Oh, I forgot.  The older shade-grown leaves are approximately 10" long and 0.5" wide, are slightly "V" shaped and have a prominent midrib top and bottom.  The color appears to be sorta similar top and bottom, but it's hard to tell with the nutritional deficiency and scale assaulting it.

[Tracy]

1 hour ago, Merlyn2220 said:

The new flush is kind of odd.  Instead of "unfurling" from a roll, they seem to have started as just crunched up ribbons that slowly get longer, straighter and wider.  Scratch that, it is really, really odd looking.  They look scraggly as hell but the lower ones are slowly straightening out. 

Species.... I don't know.  As you describe an unusual leaflet opening pattern, I couldn't help but think the scale infestation could be part of the problem.  While I understand the reluctance to treat the plant when flushing and particularly the new flush, I would likely try to treat the portions like the caudex with something to address the scale now.  Good luck on treating it and post another photo when the flush is hardened off to show what it looks like.

[Merlyn]

35 minutes ago, Tracy said:

Species.... I don't know.  As you describe an unusual leaflet opening pattern, I couldn't help but think the scale infestation could be part of the problem.  While I understand the reluctance to treat the plant when flushing and particularly the new flush, I would likely try to treat the portions like the caudex with something to address the scale now.  Good luck on treating it and post another photo when the flush is hardened off to show what it looks like.

I thought that the leaf opening might be scale-related too.  One other flushed and I forgot to take photos, the leaves looked kinda bizarre too.  It had only a very small amount of scale on it, so I am guessing that it's just the species.  On the FB cycads group someone suggested Diannanensis. 

I sprayed the whole thing a few evenings ago with Acephate/Malathion to kill off the "crawlers" but decided to wait on spraying with the garden hose to wash off all the adults.  I figured the chances of accidentally messing up the new flush with the hose was pretty high...    I'll douse the soil with Dinotefuran for a long-term systemic kill.

[Merlyn]

Here's an update on the flush.  The tops are beginning to arch over, which seems similar to the older fronds.  They are still unraveling in the odd crinkly manner, but are definitely straightening out.  It's had no sign of issues with being in a LOT of sun, though it still does get a few hours of shade in the middle of the day.

The leaves are straightening out from the tip towards the base, maybe this is what gives it the "rippled" appearance on the leaf edges?

And my third plant is just starting to flush.  The old leaf got bent 90 degrees to the right at some point in the past:

[GeneAZ]

Boron, maybe??  Do you have any frizzle-top on your palms?

[Merlyn]

1 hour ago, GeneAZ said:

Boron, maybe??  Do you have any frizzle-top on your palms?

That's possible, I don't know the formulation ChuckG used for his fertilizer.  He said he used a 50lb bag of something that was the equivalent of an Osmocote or Nutricote, but I don't know the brand or if it included boron.  I don't recall seeing any signs of other nutritional deficiencies, and I haven't given these any fertilizer yet myself.  I'm going to plant the one in the original photo, probably right about where it is sitting right now.  So I'll give it a good dose of Osmocote and maybe some generic 6-1-8 or 8-4-8 palm fertilizer.

[Merlyn]

It looks like the third identical plant has a "normal" flush without much in the way of rippled leaves.  So my guess is that I'll have to clean off the scale, as @Tracy suggested, and wait for another flush on the biggest one to see if it flushes okay.  I planted it yesterday and the existing flush is almost hardened off.  So I sprayed off as much scale as I could with the hose.  I'll treat with Acephate and a soil drench of Dinotefuran.  Here's photos of the third one, with a pretty regular looking flush.

[Tracy]

47 minutes ago, Merlyn2220 said:

It looks like the third identical plant has a "normal" flush without much in the way of rippled leaves

Agreed, looks much better with this flush.   Congratulations on the revival!

[Merlyn]

1 hour ago, Tracy said:

Agreed, looks much better with this flush.   Congratulations on the revival!

The last photos were from a different plant.  The first two were partially scale-infested (sorta wavy leaves) and heavily scale-infested (very wavy and crinkly leaves).  The third is the last photo, it has no visible scale and opened normally.  So I hope the other two will recover in a few months.  If I'm lucky I'll get another flush before winter.

[Merlyn]

@GeneAZ and @Tracy 2 years later this cycad is getting pretty huge!  It is now dwarfing the Encephalartos Whitelockii on the left, and the Ferox on the right, and towering over the Baileyana in the foreground.  The fronds are currently about 8 feet long.  About 2 weeks ago they were mostly vertical with slightly drooping tips.  Now they are spreading out for a new flush that is just about to start:

And here's the caudex just about to flush:

Any new thoughts on the ID for this one?  It took 24-25F with frost and only had a very small amount of damage.  I'm still leaning towards Simplicipinna, but it's holding 20+ healthy fronds at a time.  I don't think Simplicipinna does this, usually I think they hold 5 or so maximum.  @Scott W or @edbrown_III any ideas? 

[Scott W]

I wish I had an answer for you.  Beautiful specimen though!!!

[Tracy]

6 hours ago, Merlyn said:

Any new thoughts on the ID for this one? 

 

2 hours ago, Scott W said:

I wish I had an answer for you.  Beautiful specimen though!!!

Same responses here.  Lovely plant but I don't have any answers.  Cycas is a large genus and my knowledge of it is such a small slice that I won't hesitate a guess.