''Encephalartos brevifoliolatus'', the escarpment cycad, is a

cycad Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk (botany), trunk with a crown (botany), crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants o ...

in the

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Encephalartos ''Encephalartos'' is a genus of cycad native to Africa. Several species of ''Encephalartos'' are commonly referred to as bread trees, bread palms or kaffir bread, since a bread-like starchy food can be prepared from the centre of the stem. The ge ...

''. It is

extinct in the wild A species that is extinct in the wild (EW) is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as known only by living members kept in captivity or as a naturalized population outside its historic range due ...

. The escarpment cycad is an African plant that was found in South Africa's short grasslands in the very open ''

Protea ''Protea'' () is a genus of South African flowering plants, also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: ''suikerbos''). Etymology The genus ''Protea'' was named in 1735 by Carl Linnaeus, possibly after the Greek god Proteus, who could change his form a ...

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

. These plants are used to growing on large cliffs.

Description

This plant has an erect or decombent stem, with a diameter of 25-30 cm and a height of 2.5 meters. The leaves, pinnate, irregularly twisted on themselves and 80-120 cm long, are composed of numerous pairs of lanceolate leaflets, with a leathery consistency, arranged on the rachis in the opposite way, with an angle of 45°. The base of the petiole is tomentose on the dorsal and glabrous side on the ventral side. It is a dioecious species, of which only male specimens have been described in nature. Their cones, from 1 to 6, erect, pedunculated, coarsely cylindrical, are about 30 cm long and 6–7 cm in diameter.

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20120224094412/http://www.cycadsociety.org/brevifoliolatus/brevifoliolatus.html brevifoliolatus Endemic flora of South Africa Trees of South Africa Extinct biota of Africa Plants extinct in the wild Critically endangered flora of Africa {{cycad-stub