Encephalartos senticosus
Encephalartos senticosus
Encephalartos senticosus is a representative of cycads ( Cycadales ) and belongs to the genus of bread cycads ( Encephalartos ).
Features
The tribes are tree-like, erect or leaning, and are available individually or as a result of Wurzelschößlingen in groups. The stem is up to 4 meters high and 30 cm wide. The crown is slightly woolly.
The many leaves are upright, straight, stiff, sometimes slightly bent back and down. The leaves are from 1.1 to 2 m long and 16 to 28 cm wide. The bald petiole is 5-20 cm long. The leaflets are glossy dark green, mostly non-overlapping and are at an angle of approximately 30 ° to the front; the two leaflets against permanent form an angle of 135 °. The basal leaves are reduced to spines standing. The middle leaves are 12-18 cm long, 14-22 mm wide, and are 2 to 2.5 cm apart. The leaf margin is usually serrated, often busy with several spines. The tip is pungent.
The female cones are of two or three on the plant. They are ovate, 40-45 cm long and 22-30 cm in diameter. The color is pale apricot - yellow, the surface is sparsely hairy short felt-like. The stem is short, so that the pin appears sitting. The sporophylls are 5.5 to 6 cm long. The lying on the journal surface side of the sporophyll is smooth, pyramidal 10 to 12 mm towering, 35 to 40 mm high, 45-50 mm wide. The sarcotesta the seed to maturity is bright red. The Sklerotesta ovoid, 24 to 29 mm long, 19 to 20 mm in diameter, with longitudinal ribs 12 and 14 clear.
The male cones are of three or four. They are straight, narrow oval, 30 to 50 cm long with a diameter of 12 to 15 cm. The color is orange - yellow, slightly hairy light brown. The stem is 10 cm long and 2.5 to 4.5 cm wide. The sporophylls are 3 to 3.5 cm long. The lying on the journal surface side of the sporophyll is rhombic, 15 to 18 mm high and 35 to 40 mm wide, and forms a downwardly curved beak. In the upper pivot area they are slightly hairy brown. The sporangia are in a single, easy heart-shaped spot at the bottom.
Dissemination and locations
The species occurs in South Africa in the province of KwaZulu -Natal in the Lebombo Mountains in front of the south of Jozini Dam north to a few miles beyond Siteki in Swaziland. It grows on dry, exposed rocks and slopes between boulders and low wood, mostly in full sunlight. It is usually to be found in 400 to 800 m above sea level in areas with 625-750 mm annual, mostly summery precipitation. It is one of the most popular cycads in South Africa. Despite partial habitat loss and collection activity should be safely the type.
Botanical history
The species was first described in 1996, but the plants had long been known. They have long been held for lebomboensis encephalartos, consisting of two different shapes. As Piet Vorster wanted to describe the well-known as a rare Piet Retief - form as a separate species, he noted that the type specimen of E. lebomboensis a representative of this Piet Retief - form is. The more common form, which was long known as E. lebomboensis, now had as a new species, E. senticosus are described.
In the 1960s, the species was the subject of a comprehensive rescue operation, called Operation Wildflower: Before the damming of the Pongola River by a dam at Pongola Poort over 6000 specimens of this species were recovered from the floodplain, along with many other rare plants.
Documents
- Loran M. Whitelock: The Cycads. Timber Press, Portland, OR 2002, ISBN 0-88192-522-5.