Cycad Society of South Africa: Species List

Genus Encephalartos:

The genus Encephalartos was first described by Johann Georg Christian Lehmann in 1834. It is composed of the Greek en, in, cephale, head, and artos, bread. The generic name refers to the starch obtained from the stems. This was used as food by some indigenous tribes.

Species Occurring in South Africa

Species Occurring in Tropical Africa

Southern African Species

Most of the individual species pages are still under construction but will eventually contain photographs, a description and a list of references. An effort is made to have photos of the species in habitat, male and female strobili, leaf detail and seed detail to illustrate it better. This database is very small at the moment but growing steadily. Please contribute if you have good photographs. If habitat photos are not available, photos of plants in cultivation will be used.

If a link is preceded by a green square the page has photos to illustrate the species. A red square means the text for this species is available but no photos yet. No square means this page is under construction. Click on the links below to navigate directly to the page for that species. Once on a species page, use the drop down list at the top of the page to navigate directly to the next species page. NOTE: This feature is available if JavaScript is enabled. Users without JavaScript can navigate using the Species Pages button on the left of the page.

E. aemulans
Compete set of Photographs

E. altensteinii
No Photographs available

E. aplanatus
No Photographs available

E. arenarius
No Photographs available

E. brevifoliolatus
No Photographs available

E. caffer

E. cerinus
No Photographs available

E. cupidus
No Photographs available

E. cycadifolius
Habitat

E. dolomiticus

E. dyerianus
E. eugene-maraisii
No Photographs available

E. ferox

E. friderici-guilielmi
Habitat

E. ghellinkii
No Photographs available

E. heenanii
No Photographs available

E. hirsutus
Complete set of Photographs

E. horridus
E. humilis
No Photographs available

E. inopinus

E. laevifolius
Male Cone

E. lanatus
Some Photographs available

E. latifrons
Female Cone

E. lebomboensis
Complete set of Photograhps

E. lehmannii
Complete set of Photographs

E. longifolius
Female Cone

E. middelburgensis
No Photographs available

E. msinganus
E. natalensis
No Photographs available

E. ngoyanus

E. nubimontanus
    E. paucidentatus
    E. princeps
    E. senticosus
Female Cone

E. transvenosus
E. trispinosus
E. umbeluziensis
Female Cone & Seed Detail

E. villosus
Female Cone

E. woodii

Stangeria eriopus

Tropical African Species

Although Encephalartos species are well known in South Africa, the same cannot be said for the rest of Africa. Much work has been done by Peter Heibloem and Douglas Goode, to name just two, to document tropical species. Both authored books on the subject. This list will undoubtedly grow as more species are found and described in the future.

E. barteri subsp. barteri
E. barteri subsp. llochrous
E. bubalinus
E. chimanimaniensis
E. concinnus
E. delucanus
E. equatorialis

E. gratus
E. hildebrandtii
E. ituriensis
E. kisambo
E. laurentianus
E. macrostrobilis

E. manikensis
E. marunguensis
E. munchii
E. poggei
E. pterogonus
E. schaijesii

E. schmitzii
E. sclavoi
E. septentrionalus
E. tegulaneus
E. turneri
E. whitelockii

Webmaster : Pieter van der Walt