This Cycas was given to me by a friend who had it in his nursery; he got out of specimens and now does foliage and a lot of his previous material has been neglected-talked him into letting me get this thing into a good home. 

I hate being that jerk who asks about Cycas, cuz most people don't know and that's because they don't care... Almost as bad as trying to get a dracaena id!

All I know is that it's a female and not a revoluta, nor is it in that rumphii complex-yeah, big help, right?! Anyway, it recently flushed out, after showing it was a female.

Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance.

I know his father grew this from seed that he got from MBC so that really narrows it down 

A couple more shots for who would like to give it a shot at getting a species name on this... Please let me know if you need anything else, picture-wise. Thanks again.

No one has any ideas?..

1 hour ago, Mandrew968 said:

No one has any ideas?..

I haven't seen anything quite like this before, so can't match it with anything in my experience.  Interesting to note the stiffness of the leaflets as well as the spacing.  If no one else comes up with a match, my thought would be a possible hybrid.  Just to clarify as I'm not a Floridian, I presume that by MBC you are referring to Montgomery Botanical Center being the source of the seed?  Again assuming that my MBC interpretation is accurate, have you seen something like this in their collection, because if not, it would again point to a possible hybrid of a couple of Cycas they have in their collection.  Now its someone else with more knowledge's turn to blow me out of the water with the exact ID...  but at least I have come up with some suggestions on getting a better handle on it.  Good luck and it is attractive.  I would be happy to have this in my garden!

Thanks Tracy-yes on what MBC stands for; it's where I work. I have been riding around trying to see if there is anything that looks anything like what this is, but so far, the only Cycas that looked similar was Cycas kennedyana. I doubt it's that though...

8 hours ago, Mandrew968 said:

Thanks Tracy-yes on what MBC stands for; it's where I work. I have been riding around trying to see if there is anything that looks anything like what this is, but so far, the only Cycas that looked similar was Cycas kennedyana. I doubt it's that though...

What a great place to work. You definitly have a unique looking Cycas. All of the Cycas species I know look nothing like your plant. Unfortunately there is not much information or pictures on the web of the Cycas kennedyana to help with identification. Sounds like a pretty rare plant though and would be a cool one to have in your garden. The one picture I did find had some resemblances but not enough to confirm a positive ID. I would not rule out the Cycas kennedyana at this point though. I am not even going to try and guess because I have absolutely no idea. Please post pictures once you get that beauty in the ground. 

19 hours ago, Mandrew968 said:

the only Cycas that looked similar was Cycas kennedyana. I doubt it's that though...

I had to look up Cycas kennedyana, as I wasn't familiar with it either.  The color in your photo doesn't seem to match the description I found:  http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/PALMS_AND_CYCADS/Family/Cycadaceae/31808/Cycas_kennedyana

"Fronds rise from the apex in a neat palmlike crest, they are 1-1.5(-2) m long, blue-grey to pale blue-green above, very glaucous beneath; the fronds twist and curve being very flexuous. Leaflets up to 100 pairs, flat, acute, linear, decurrent at the base, shiny, glabrous, the lower ones spine-like. The usual circinate new fronds are very attractive being fawn in the rachis and light powder blue in the uncoiling pinnae. Old fronds hang pendant in a ring around the top of the caudex."  

i'm thinking more like C. media.

Do you know if Cycas media is related to Cycas kennedyana? Both of them came up in my search for kennedyana. 

3 minutes ago, GeneAZ said:

i'm thinking more like C. media

My only cycad book lists kennedyana as a synonym of media(though it is not and the book is out of date). Media is a plausible identification-highly variable species too.

Kennedyana is now megacarpa and is a very different plant than media. I have three media and they dont look like your plant. I dont know what you have but it is different from anything mature that i have. 

Cycas yorkiana. This looks similar to the cycad I have. Can we at least say this mystery Cycas, I have, is Australian?

Update on this plant. 

Growing nicely in the pot. Are u gonna pollinate it with anything? 

Dont really know how or when to do that but I bet I could get some neat pollen here at work...

Wish I had some pollen to donate. Hopefully u can get something very interesting. The blue hybrids fetch a pretty penny. Worth a shot. 

We had a really neat Cycad symposium today at work; learned that in it's fragile habitat, Cycas micronesica can be pollinated by wind! Didn't know of any such evidence of wind pollination for a Cycad. I love MBC.

2 hours ago, Mandrew968 said:

We had a really neat Cycad symposium today at work; learned that in it's fragile habitat, Cycas micronesica can be pollinated by wind! Didn't know of any such evidence of wind pollination for a Cycad. I love MBC.

That is pretty cool. With most encephalartos in habitat pollination is done mostly by beetles and bees. I would assume wind pollination is possible with ideal conditions. Hope you find some pollen. What a cool place to work. 

Been looking at Cycas pretty hard and I now feel this may be hainanensis... I have been dusting it with calcicola pollen but I am doubtful of any pollination.

Coning female that small narrows it down to a Chinese species. It could be a hainanensis.