I rescued this cycad from from a landfill and repotted it in its own container as it was overgrown by weeds and decorative flowers. It is now in cycad potting soil mixed with a bit of normal potting soil. I am trying to revive it but I need a plant ID to see what I am working with. It is definitely a species of Encephalartos but cannot ID the specie with accuracy. The leaf shape looks like a horidus but the colour is throwing me off. It’s very yellow at this point due to previous neglect.

Anyone with any guesses?

@Psycad welcome to Palmtalk! I'm not great at ID'ing the South African Encephalartos. So I have a hard time telling Arenarious from Horridus and Trispinosus. That's mostly because they hate my climate's dily torrential thunderstorms and tend to get root or crown rots. It could also be a hybrid like the naturally occuring Trispinosus x Altensteinii. If you can get a healthy next flush it should be easier to ID. Regardless of what it is, that's a great find!

On 8/14/2026 at 1:36 AM, Psycad said:

I rescued this cycad from from a landfill and repotted it in its own container as it was overgrown by weeds and decorative flowers. It is now in cycad potting soil mixed with a bit of normal potting soil. I am trying to revive it but I need a plant ID to see what I am working with. It is definitely a species of Encephalartos but cannot ID the specie with accuracy. The leaf shape looks like a horidus but the colour is throwing me off. It’s very yellow at this point due to previous neglect.

Anyone with any guesses?

I agree with Merlyn that some of its characteristics will be more apparent with a new flush, such as the color. In addition to looking at the leaves, examining their collars can be helpful. It is somewhat reminiscent of an Encephalartos longifolius × horridus i am growing.

@Merlyn I thought it looked like a Horidus as well! We’re not that far off though.

I got an expert ID on it, turns out it is an Encephalartos Trispinosus, a species very similar to Horidus. Now I just need to get it healthy again to see if I got the blue or green variant. The base of the leaflets looks like it could have a slight blue colour.

On 8/14/2026 at 1:36 AM, Psycad said:

The leaf shape looks like a horidus but the colour is throwing me off. It’s very yellow at this point due to previous neglect.

Anyone with any guesses?

While the leaflets closest to the terminal ends look like they have some twist like Encephalartos horridus, it really is limited to the terminal ends on the leaves. The color is not an issue given your descrption of finding it in the rubbish heap. The waxy coating on the blue cycads can rub off over time, which is why I mentioned waiting for a new flush in my prior post.

I did take a couple of photos of a pair of Encephalartos horridus, one female and the other is a male with multiple heads. The color of the female isn't as blue as it could be, because it skipped flusing the last two years to push consecutive cones. More importantly, look at the leaflets as well as how far down the rachis they continue to show some twist and spines on both specimens. The flatter leaflets on yours reminded me of my Encephalartos horridus x longifolius or it could have been the opposite, longifolius x horridus, I have forgotten.

For now, here are the horridus for comparison to yours.

Compare the leaflets on the Encephalartos horridus x longifolius (or the opposite order as I can't recall right now which was the female). It reminds me more of your plant but even it has a different lower leaflet (more like true longifolius). This is why I think it could be a hybrid. The lower leaflets of your plant resembles Encephalartos altensteinii or natalensis, while the more terminal leaflets resemble horridus.

The fact that you found it in a dump indicates there was a reason someone didn't want it. While it would be a valuable plant here, my understanding is that hybrids are much more frowned upon in South Africa. Perhaps that is for a good reason. We don't have pollinators here which you have in habitat. Hybrids could potentially unintentially "pollute" the gene pool of wild habitat specimens there. Here, we have to hand pollinate, so unless someone misrepresents what they are selling as pure species, the only harm is someone having something they think is species but isn't. It won't go wild and dilute the genetics of habitat plants. A long way of saying that someone may have dumped the plant because they didn't want a hybrid, which I suspect your plant is based on what I have seen. There are plenty of folks with more knowledge and experienced eye than me, so don't take it as the last word.

Here is the horridus x longifolius or longifolius x horridus, depending on which was mother and father. I have heard that this is actually a hybrid that can occur naturally when the two species are in habitat. Mine was produced through hand pollination here so was an intentional hybrid... sort of. It is a rooted pup from close to a dozen years ago, off a plant that was hand pollinated here. It is one of my slowest Encephalartos which was neglected in a pot for a while then planted in a spot it didn't like, dug back up and put in a pot and finally planted out where it is now a few years ago. It is finally found a spot where it will establish.