Encephalartos lanatus
Olifants River cycad
Family ZamiaceaeAlso called Woolly cycad
About
Encephalartos lanatus, the woolly or Olifants River cycad, is a slow-growing cycad from Mpumalanga and Gauteng, South Africa, named for the woolly coating on its leaves.
Care at a glance
- Pet safety
- Not recorded. We have no source on whether this plant is safe for cats, dogs or other pets — that is not the same as safe. Keep it out of reach until you have checked.
- People
- Not recorded.
- Growth rate
- Slow.
- Mature size
- Stem 1–1.5 m; leaves about 1 m long.
- Hardiness
- Withstands fire and hard frosts down to about −10 °C in habitat.
Field notes
Morphology
Slowly forms a stem 1–1.5 m tall. Bluish, almost silvery leaves about 1 m long have a thick woolly coat and smooth-edged leaflets 10–14 cm long. Cones are greyish and finely hairy; male cones about 25–30 cm long, female cones 12–15 cm across.
Distribution & habitat
A small area of the Wilge and Olifants River catchments at about 1,500 m, on steep rocky grassy slopes with warm summers, frosty winters and around 700 mm of rain.
Conservation
Its range is small but the population is stable. Listed on CITES Appendix I.
Habitat
- Altitude
- Not recorded
- Altitude class
- —
- Native to
- South Africa
- IUCN status
- Vulnerable
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- Not recorded
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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