Encephalartos Blue Longifolius x Horridus Gender?

[Firepalm]

This plant originally came from George Sparkman as a small 5 gallon that went into the ground in 2013. This is its first cone.  Any idea if this is a male or female? Holding out hope that maybe this might be a female since the cone is large and less elongated than most of the other male cones in my yard.  

[Tracy]

2 hours ago, Firepalm said:

This plant originally came from George Sparkman as a small 5 gallon that went into the ground in 2013. This is its first cone.  Any idea if this is a male or female? Holding out hope that maybe this might be a female since the cone is large and less elongated than most of the other male cones in my yard.  

Looks like you have yourself a female.  I got one from George about the same time.  I planted it but it stalled.  I dug it up and put it in a pot for several years and eventually replanted it.  It finally started growing again but is a fraction of the size of yours.  I guess I got the runt of that batch.  

That cone still has a ways to go before reaching receptivity.   It will continue to get bigger.

[Firepalm]

Thanks for confirming Tracy! This was the first cycad I ever purchased from George, still one of my all time favorite hybrids.  This one is normally very blue, but all the leaves are old now because it didn't flush last year for the first time ever, so I figured it was putting energy into a cone.  Another anomaly about this particular cycad is that it has never killed off one of its own leaves over the past decade.  They just don't die, I wound up trimming several years worth of older leaves off the bottom because they were literally being pushed into the ground.  

If this is indeed a female, I need to track down some interesting pollen for it.  I have always though Latifrons with this particular plant would be an amazing combination.  I asked George whether he had ever attempted it and he told me that none of his B Longifolius x Horridus had ever coned female, so he never had a chance to make a three way hybrid from it (and you know how adverse he was to using a hybrid as a male pollen donor).  Longifolius has long been one of my favorite encephalartos for hybrid combinations because it has perfect structure and great stacking.  

[Tracy]

6 hours ago, Firepalm said:

If this is indeed a female, I need to track down some interesting pollen for it.  I have always though Latifrons with this particular plant would be an amazing combination.

My pollen offerings this year are pretty limited and probably not of much interest for what you would like to achieve (Encephalartos trispinosis, ituriensis, cupidus, nat x horridus and whitlockii x sclavoi).  I would suggest reaching out to Braden as a starting point.  I believe Nick (Elidro on these pages) here in Encinitas will have some E. lehmannii pollen but don't know if he has already committed it elsewhere.  Sometimes it takes a community!

[Firepalm]

Thanks Tracy! Reaching out to Braden is a great idea.  The only male pollen I have in the yard this year is the same Whitelockii x Sclavoi that you have.