Lepidozamia peroffskyana is a palm-like cycad

Cycad

Cycads are seed plants typically characterized by a stout and woody trunk with a crown of large, hard and stiff, evergreen leaves. They usually have pinnate leaves. The individual plants are either all male or all female . Cycads vary in size from having a trunk that is only a few centimeters...

 in the Zamiaceae

Zamiaceae

The Zamiaceae are a family of cycads that are superficially palm or fern-like. They are divided into two subfamilies with eight genera and about 150 species in the tropical and warm temperate regions of Africa, Australia and North and South America....

 family. It is endemic to eastern Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The species is named after Count Peroffsky

Vasily Alekseevich Perovsky

Count Vasily Alekseevich Perovsky was an imperial Russian general and statesman.After studying in Moscow University, he joined the emperor's retinue in 1811...

 (1794-1857), benefactor of the St. Petersburg Botanical Garden.

Description

This cycad is up to seven metres tall but more usually reaches about four metres. The trunk

Trunk (botany)

In botany, trunk refers to the main wooden axis of a tree that supports the branches and is supported by and directly attached to the roots. The trunk is covered by the bark, which is an important diagnostic feature in tree identification, and which often differs markedly from the bottom of the...

 is up to eighty centimetres in diameter and is covered by the persistent remains of leaf bases. The crown

Crown (botany)

The crown of a plant refers to the totality of the plant's aboveground parts, including stems, leaves, and reproductive structures. A plant canopy consists of one or more plant crowns growing in a given area....

 is formed from numerous leaves up to three metres long, each bearing about two hundred narrow, glossy, dark green leaflets, somewhat lax, spreading and softly coriaceous. Each has seven to thirteen parallel veins which helps to distinguish this species from other members of the genus. The cylindrical cones are some of the largest of all cycad cones, rivaled only by Encephalartos transvenosus

Encephalartos transvenosus

Encephalartos transvenosus is a palm-like cycad in the family Zamiaceae. It is found in Limpopo Province in South Africa. It is also sometimes called "Modjadji's palm" and is named after the Rain Queen. The species name transvenosus refers to the fine network of veins between the main veins...

. The male cones can reach seventy five centimetres long and the female cones ninety centimetres, weighing up to forty five kilograms. The seeds are large and numerous and have red sarcotesta

Sarcotesta

The sarcotesta is the outermost fleshy covering of Cycad seeds. Below this layer is usually the sclerotesta, the coating that makes direct contact with the cycad seed. In some species, however, there is an intermediate layer that is thought to be used in water retention and storage....

.

Distribution and habitat

This species is found in southeastern Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 and northeastern New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, occurring between Gympie

Gympie

Gympie may refer to:* Gympie, a city in Queensland, Australia** Gympie Airport** Electoral district of Gympie** Gympie Region, its local government authority* Gympie Gympie , a stinging plant...

, north of Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

 and the Manning River

Manning River

The Manning River is a river in the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia that flows through the Manning Valley. It is one of Australia's few large river systems not to be dammed for water supply purposes anywhere along its catchment...

 near Forster

Forster

Forster may refer to:* Forster, New South Wales, a town in Australia* Forster , several people with the surname* Forster Music Publisher, Inc., a sheet music publisher founded in 1916 based in Chicago...

. It grows in scattered small communities in wet sclerophyll

Sclerophyll

Sclerophyll is the term for a type of vegetation that has hard leaves and short internodes . The word comes from the Greek sclero and phyllon ....

 forests or on rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

margins, usually on steep slopes from sea level up to about 1,000 metres.

External links

• The Gymnosperm Database