This ppt is useful for plant science students

1. Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Cycadophyta
Class: Cycadopsida
Order: Cycadales
Family: Zamiaceae
Genus: Encephalartos
Encephalartos
Mr. Bheemanagouda N. Patil
Lecturer DOSR in Botany
Tumkur University, Tumkur
Karnataka, India.

2. Distribution
 The genus Encephalartos currently 68 species and is
endemic to Africa. Species occurs predominantly in south
and east Africa but are also distributed across central Africa
to Angola, Benin and Ghana in west Africa.
 South Africa is a regional centre of diversity. 75% of which
are threatened with extinction.

3.  Plant is unbranched but often
suckering from base to form
clumps of up to 4-6 stems. 2-3 m
tall. E. cycadifolius, the main
trunks are up to 10 feet high.
 Stem is erect but often leaning to
some extent or even pendulous
from cliffs.
 Leaves 80-90 cm long rigid and
straight or very slightly recurved
near apices.
 Petioles glabrous at maturity
Description

4.  The persistent, pinnate leaves are
arranged in a terminal spreading crown,
or ascending.
 The rigid leaflets are variously spiny
along their margins.

5. Nostoc punctiforme occur in apparent
symbiosis inside the root tissue, while
the rootlets produce root tubercles at
ground level which harbour a
mycorrhizal fungus.
Facilitate the capturing of nitrogen
from the air.
Studies by Lindblad (1990) and
Grobbelaar et al. (1986) also
name Calothrix as the symbiont
of Encephalartos.
ROOT

6. Male Cones
Cones elongated and two or four may
appear per stem.
Sessile, very narrowly ovoid, covered in
minute and very short whitish indumentum.
35 cm long and 6-7 cm in diameter in
dried condition.
In some species, male cones with ripe
pollen emit a nauseating odour. When the
pollen has been shed.
decay, a strong odour of acetic acid has
also been noted.
Reproduction

7.  Female cones are borne singly, or up to
five at a time.
 A striking example is the story of
Encephalartos woodii, discovered in
1895, a species of which only one (male)
plant has ever been found in the wild. No
female plants are known to exist and
therefore sexual reproduction is not
possible.

8.  The original clump consisted of four stems with a number of
offsets at the base.
 These offsets were removed and propagated in botanic gardens,
and later two of the stems were transplanted to rescue the plant.
 However, E. woodii reproduces well by basal suckers and trunk
offsets and the species is now well represented in collections and
gardens around the world.

9. Human
In several species the pith of the trunk contains a abundant amount of
high quality starch below the crown. This was formerly cut out by
native people as food.
Animal
Their large seeds consist of an often poisonous kernel covered by an
edible fleshy layer.
Monkeys, rodents and birds also feed on the seeds, but due to their
unpredictable toxic qualities they are not recommended for human
consumption.
Insects
Day-flying looper moths are specific to cycads, and genus
Encephalartos is one of their food plants
Economic Important of Encephalartos