Cycas multifrondis

[freakypalmguy]

I purchased this the other day as Cycas multifrondis. I could not find much information on it. Is this actually a valid name? I did find one source that said this is a 9b cycad? Any planting suggestions (full, partial sun, water needs, etc.)

Does anyone have any experience with this one.

[surferjr]

I purchased this the other day as Cycas multifrondis. I could not find much information on it. Is this actually a valid name? I did find one source that said this is a 9b cycad? Any planting suggestions (full, partial sun, water needs, etc.)

Does anyone have any experience with this one.

Looks like the real deal to me Cycas Multipinnata....won't really show it's true form for 2 or 3 leafs later. Mine were doing fine outdoors....they were about that sizes when they were moved to the outdoors from my hothouse. I gave them about 3-4 hours of sun so they'd gotten burns on the tips but the next year flush showed the Muli form leafs. They've (the larger ones) since been sold.

Here's some primo links to pics of Cycas Multipinnata.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3071/261826...fc1d8f2.jpg?v=0

http://www.newsmth.net/att.php?p.227.87941.266.jpg

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/225492/

Good score!! :drool:

[LJG]

Matt, you do not have Loran's book? Shame on you cycad lover!

Here are the basics. Cycas multifrondis is now called C. bifida. It is NOT Cycas multipinnata but their habitats overlap. Cycas multipinnata is more closely related to C. debaoensis, while C. bifida is more closely related to C. micholitzii.

Bill (BS Man) has a large C. bifida and had some pictures posted. I believe Loran's personal plant has leaves that are over 12' tall.

[Jeff Searle]

Matt, you do not have Loran's book? Shame on you cycad lover!

Here are the basics. Cycas multifrondis is now called C. bifida. It is NOT Cycas multipinnata but their habitats overlap. Cycas multipinnata is more closely related to C. debaoensis, while C. bifida is more closely related to C. micholitzii.

Bill (BS Man) has a large C. bifida and had some pictures posted. I believe Loran's personal plant has leaves that are over 12' tall.

The man KNOWS his cycas............

[cycadjungle]

This is the same answer I would give someone asking me the same question, but I have to wonder about what we are being told by the experts. Ken Hill says that multifrondis is the same as bifida, but I have a colony of multifrondis plants that came from seeds that Wang distributed.(author of multifrondis) If you look at Wang's cycad book, multifrondis had a more arching and spreading look to it,with leaves that don't grow very tall, but bifida is a very tall plant ( I have seen one with one leaf that was 14 feet tall) that only holds one or two good leaves at a time. The multifrondis plants I have are probably around 10 years old now, maybe more, and they aren't taller than about 30 inches with an equal spread and I have 4 year old bifidas that are already 7 feet tall. Its hard to say what these new seeds are going to make, who knows, they may look totally different and should be kept seperate from any bifidas, if you have both in your collection. I know I'm going to.

[BS Man about Palms]

Da bifida. Biggest leaf about 4 foot plus.

[freakypalmguy]

Clark, Thank you, those are some sweet pics

Len, yeah, I do have the book, I just was really hoping to get some off that first hand growing expertise of you guys and gals here. Great explanation.

Tom, thank you for the background information. What conditions do your plants grow in? Full sun?

Bill, Very nice one. How much sun does yours see? Thank you for the pic.

Are these typical Cycads, in that they don't want wet conditions?

[gsn]

I know virtually nothing about cycads.

In that vein I only know coontie, and sagos. I realize coontie is a zamia and not a cycad (zamia floridania)!

Having said that I am totally confused by this thread.

Is the pic Matt first posted a Cycas multifrondis (now known as C. bifida ), or a Cycas Multipinnata?

The pics Clark posted look nothing like the pic that Bill posted.

Is matts cycad going to look like Clarks pics,or Bills pic?

thanks

[Jeff Searle]

I know virtually nothing about cycads.

In that vein I only know coontie, and sagos. I realize coontie is a zamia and not a cycad (zamia floridania)!

Having said that I am totally confused by this thread.

Is the pic Matt first posted a Cycas multifrondis (now known as C. bifida ), or a Cycas Multipinnata?

The pics Clark posted look nothing like the pic that Bill posted.

Is matts cycad going to look like Clarks pics,or Bills pic?

thanks

Anytime Ding Dong gets involved, the whole topic gets screwed up.

[LJG]

Matt, I do not have this one but I do have others of the 'forking' variety. The one closest to what you have is C. micholitzii. It gets tons of water and loves it. It gets too much sun, and does not love it. So water yes, sun no. It is from Vietnam and surrounding areas. So that should tell you something.

[Cycadcenter]

I think you have the right answer Len, it does look like a Cycas micholitzii seedling.

Regarding the taxonomy of this group, on a trip into China it was explained that the description of Cycas multifrondis type locality was/is thoight to be a hybrid swarm of a mixture of multipinata and bifida. Both are quite different plants the bifida, by the name have bifide leaflets an multpinata have multiple pinates.

I was told that the multifrondis locality was highly variable with many leaf forms.

Of the plants in this complex the bifida and deboensis I would consider the most cold tolerant, both will grow outside in southern california but should we grown in a protected environment out of the wind. This would be especially true of bifida with their long leaves.

We had a bifida female produce a couple of hundred seeds thgis year so hopefully I'll have some seedlings available

Bruce

[gsn]

Am I the only one still confused?

I guess there is a reason I'm not into cycads, Cycadcenters response about the hybridising(sp) confused me even more ,regarding my original question.

Won't be the first or last time I didn't understand something!

[BS Man about Palms]

Clark, Thank you, those are some sweet pics

Len, yeah, I do have the book, I just was really hoping to get some off that first hand growing expertise of you guys and gals here. Great explanation.

Tom, thank you for the background information. What conditions do your plants grow in? Full sun?

Bill, Very nice one. How much sun does yours see? Thank you for the pic.

Are these typical Cycads, in that they don't want wet conditions?

Matt- I haven't moved it from where it started opening. In Summer it saw half day coastal sun, as winter progressed it sees very little sun, just bright light. In your area I would think shade is the best, or at least only part day sun.

[BS Man about Palms]

I know virtually nothing about cycads.

In that vein I only know coontie, and sagos. I realize coontie is a zamia and not a cycad (zamia floridania)!

Having said that I am totally confused by this thread.

Is the pic Matt first posted a Cycas multifrondis (now known as C. bifida ), or a Cycas Multipinnata?

The pics Clark posted look nothing like the pic that Bill posted.

Is matts cycad going to look like Clarks pics,or Bills pic?

thanks

Scott- many years between Clarks size and the one I have pictured.

[gsn]

Da bifida. Biggest leaf about 4 foot plus.

Scott- many years between Clarks size and the one I have pictured.

Let me try this once more then I will go away quietly.

The original post by Matt was asking if his cycad shown in the very first pic of this post was a multifrondis, and was it a valid name.

Clark said he thought it was, but went on to call it a different name multipinnata

First question are mulitfrondis and multipinnata the same plant?

Second question to Bill, are you saying that the pics Clark posted will look like your cycad as it gets older and bigger?

Here is one of the pics Clark posted, I can't imagine it will morph into the plant you/Bill showed a pic above with age? I can see the original pic Matt posted looking like yours with age.

I purposely left out of the equation that multifrondis is now known as bifida, so as not confuse the issue farther,as I think I have that figured out?

thanks

Clarks first pic

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3071/261826...fc1d8f2.jpg?v=0

Edited January 14, 2009 by gsn

[freakypalmguy]

Excellent info. So we are thinking most likely Cycas micholitzii, possibly C. bifida. North side of my house is where I will plant it to keep it out of the direct Temecula blast furnace. And it stays fairly most there.

Thank you all for your help,

Matt

[daxin]

Matt's plant is C. multifrondis (now absorbed into bifida). Clark's photos are C. multipinnata, which is related to C. bifida but a different species.

C. bifida (C. multifrondis) and C. micholitzii have once-forked leaflets, while C. debaoensis & C. multipinnata have multiple-forked leaflets. These four species consistently have divided leaflets within the big Cycas genus, and they were even considered but rejected as a separate new genus Epicycas. C. micholitzii is from Southern Vietnam; C. bifida and C. multipinnata are both from Southern China and Northern Vietnam. C. debaoensis is native to Debao county in Southern China.

[BS Man about Palms]

Sorry Scott, didn't scroll back high enough. Yes, I suspect Matts plant will someday look like mine.

[gsn]

Daxin,

Thanks for the reclarification, I appreciate it. Clarks pics are not the same plant then.

Bill,

Also thanks for the response,as your post about Clarks being small is why it didn't look like yours really confused me.

[Jeff Searle]

So everybody's happy now, right? Were all on the same page?

Jeff

[Gbarce]

Ummm I have a question now. Daxin says that the Multifrondis is now absorbed into Bifida.

Now I have a question about the plant I have. After examining the picture of Bill's Bifida its pretty clear that all leaflets are nice and neat bifid leaves (split into 2)-- I have a plant that was sold to me as Cycas Multifrondis but I notice that the leaflets are sometimes split in 2 but also have leaflets that split in 3 (though not at the same points).

The picture below illustrates what I mean - leaflet in the front splits in 2 and the one just behind it has 3 leaflets. Seems that this pattern is pretty irregular throughout the leaf

Is it correct to call this a C Bifida now or should I refer to its as C bifida var. multifrondis?? What I mean is -- is it important to make a distinction between the two-- seems to me that lumping them together might create confusion.

[cycadjungle]

All my bifid cycas species and/or types are growing under the oak tree canopy. They have all taken 21F with no real damage, (maybe 10% with regular micholitzii) I have debaoensis in some half day sun and they look really washed and a bit pissed off looking. All the ones in the shade are doing really well and grow quite fast, except for these multifrondis.

To be sure of what you have and what it will do for you really depends on where the seeds came from and who provided those seeds. From knowing what is out there in the world, the best guess is that they came from Toby. Then you have to figure where he got his seeds and why he is calling them multifrondis when the majority of cycad people who know whats happening will say that they are synonomous with bifida. I am thinking that the person providing these seeds is in China and has had access to the Wang material, and is still calling it multifrondis, which if this is the case, the seedling will not look like the typical bifida, but like all things, time will tell. The problem is that the person who probably provided the seeds is not the best cycad person in the world and several years ago sold Cycas micholitzii seeds to people for either $6 or $8 each and those seeds turned out to be some sort of weird arenga seeds. He has probably learned a little more since then, but maybe not all that much more, yet alone, not really caring about what is legal to ship and what is not.

[zootropical]

Hello,

I grown this cycas for 3 years now. One plant rot after the first winter. The other one thrive very well and survive to -6°C (21°F) in february 2012 and our last very rainy winter/spring. This plant grow in very well drained soil and exposition is half shade (sun during morning).

I have to find other seeds because I think this sp. is adapt to zone 9 and my be very easy to protect in case of very cold event.

Sincerely.