''Zamia'' is a genus of

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 ...

s (non-flowering plants with seeds) found in the

Neotropical Realm The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropics, tropical Ecoregion#Terrestrial, terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperat ...

of the Americas. As of May 2025, there are about 90 species of ''

Zamia ''Zamia'' is a genus of cycad of the family Zamiaceae, native to North America from the United States (in Georgia and Florida) throughout the West Indies, Central America, and South America as far south as Bolivia. The genus is considered to be ...

'' recognized by major databases of plant species. A 2024 study analyzing

transcriptome The transcriptome is the set of all RNA transcripts, including coding and non-coding, in an individual or a population of cells. The term can also sometimes be used to refer to all RNAs, or just mRNA, depending on the particular experiment. The ...

s from 77 species of ''Zamia'' found support for a

phylogenetic tree A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA. In ...

of seven clades for the genus occupying different geographical ranges. Clade I includes species in the

Caribbean islands Most of the Caribbean countries are islands in the Caribbean Sea, with only a few in inland lakes. The largest islands include Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. Some of the smaller islands are referred to as a ''rock'' or ''reef.'' ''I ...

and

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. Clade II includes species in states along the

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from an ocean or their seas into a landmass, larger and typically (though not always) with a narrower opening than a bay (geography), bay. The term was used traditionally for large, highly indented navigable bodies of s ...

Coast of central

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. Clade III, which is divided into the sub-clades III-A and III-B, includes species found in Mexico and northern Central America. Clade IV consists of a single species found in the Mexican state of

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

. Clade V includes species found in southern Central America. Clade VI includes species found in southernmost

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

and west of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

in South America. Clade VII consists species found in northern

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and east of the Andes in South America.

Accepted species

Almost all of the species in this table are accepted as valid in at least four of the following databases, including The World List of Cycads (WLC), the USDA-ARS

Germplasm Resources Information Network Germplasm Resources Information Network or GRIN is an online USDA National Genetic Resources Program software project to comprehensively manage the computer database for the holdings of all plant germplasm collected by the National Plant Germpla ...

(GRIN), the Kew Gardens

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

(Kew), the

World Flora Online World Flora Online is an Internet-based compendium of the world's plant species. Description The World Flora Online (WFO) is an open-access database, launched in October 2012 as a follow-up project to The Plant List, with the aim of publishi ...

(WFO). and

Tropicos Tropicos is an online botanical database containing taxonomic information on plants, mainly from the Neotropical realm ( Central, and South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Sou ...

. A few species accepted in only three of the five databases are noted individually. The second column lists the clade in which the species was placed in the 2024 study based on transcriptomes. The third column lists the countries, or in the cases of Brazil, Mexico, and the United States, the states, in which the species are found. The fourth column includes the vulnerability assessment published by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

(IUCN) for each species.

Invalid names

This list includes some 50 names of ''Zamia'' species that have been published, but have since been synoymized to other cycad species and are not currently accepted by the WLC, Kew, or WFO databases. * ''Zamia afra'' Thunb., Syn. of '' Encephalartos afer'' * ''Zamia allison-armorii'' Millsp., Syn. of '' Z. pumila'' * ''Zamia amblyphyllidia'', Syn. of '' Z. erosa'' * ''Zamia angustissima'' Miq., Syn. of '' Z. angustifolia'' * ''Zamia atropurpurea'' Parm. ex Miq., Syn. of '' Ceratozamia mexicana'' * ''Zamia baraquiniana'' hort. ex Regel, Syn. of '' Z. poeppigiana'' * ''Zamia bussellii'' Schutzman, R.S., R.S. Adams, J.L. Haynes & Whitelock, Syn. of '' Z. onan-reyesii'' * ''Zamia calocoma'' Miq., Syn. of '' Microcycas calocoma'' * ''Zamia caracasana'' Lodd. ex Miq., Syn. of '' Z. loddigesii'' * ''Zamia chamberlainii'' J. Schuster., Syn. of '' Z. pygmaea'' * ''Zamia cupatiensis'' Ducke, Syn. of '' Z. ulei'' * ''Zamia cycadifolia'' Jacq., Syn. of '' Encephalartos cycadifolius'' or '' Macrozamia fraseri'' * ''Zamia debilis'' L. f., Syn. of '' Z. pumila'' * ''Zamia dentata'' Voigt, Syn. of '' Z. integrifolia'' * ''Zamia floridana'' A. DC., Syn. of '' Z. integrifolia'' * ''Zamia friderici-guilielmi'' hort. ex Miq., Syn. of ''

Encephalartos friderici-guilielmi ''Encephalartos friderici-guilielmi'' is a species of cycad in the family ''Zamiaceae''. It is sometimes referred to by the common name White-haired Cycad. It is native to Eastern Cape province and KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa at eleva ...

'' * ''Zamia fusca'' Schaedtler, Syn. of '' Z. verschaffeltii'' * ''Zamia galeottii'' de Vriese, Syn. of '' Z. loddigesii'' * ''Zamia guggenheimiana'' Catabia, Syn. of '' Z. angustifolia'' * ''Zamia gutierrezii'' Sauvalle, Syn. of '' Z. muricata'' * ''Zamia horrida'' Jacq., Syn. of '' Encephalartos horridus'' * ''Zamia jirijirimensis'' R.E. Schult., Syn. of '' Z. lecointei'' * ''Zamia kickxii'' Miq., Syn. of '' Z. pyqmaea'' * ''Zamia lanuginosa'' Jacq., Syn. of '' Z. wallisii'' * ''Zamia latifolia'' LH.J.Veitchex A. DC., Syn. of '' Z. furfuracea'' or '' Z. muricata'' * ''Zamia latifoliolata'' Prenleloup, L.A., Syn. of '' Z. pumila'' * ''Zamia lindleyana'' Warsz. ex Schaedtler, Syn. of '' Z. chigua'' * ''Zamia longifolia'' Jacq., Syn. of '' Encephalartos longifolius'' * ''Zamia macrophylla'' Parm. ex Miq., Syn. of '' Ceratozamia mexicana'' * ''Zamia madida'' R.E. Schult., Syn. of '' Z. manicata'' * ''Zamia maelani'' Miq., Syn. of ''

Dioon edule ''Dioon'' is a genus of cycads in the family Zamiaceae. It is native to Mexico and Central America. Their habitats include tropical forests, pine-oak forest, and dry hillsides, canyons and coastal dunes. Description Dioons are dioecious, pal ...

'' * ''Zamia media'' Jacq., Syn. of '' Z. integrifolia'' * ''Zamia mexicana'' (Brongn.) Linden, Syn. of '' Z. loddigesii'' or '' Ceratozamia mexicana'' * ''Zamia multifoliodentata'' Calonje, R. Segalla & R.S. Pimenta * ''Zamia multifoliolata'' A. DC., Syn. of '' Z. angustifolia'' * ''Zamia noeffiana'' Linden x Wirrm., ''

Nomen dubium In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Zoology In case of a ''nomen dubium,'' it may be impossible to determine whether a ...

'' * ''Zamia obidensis'' Ducke, Syn. of '' Z. lecointei'' * ''Zamia ottonis'' Miq., Syn. of '' Z. pygmaea'' * ''Zamia picta'' (Miq.) Dyer, Syn. of '' Z. variegata'' * ''Zamia polymorpha'' D.W. Stev.,A. Moretti & Vázq. Torres, Syn. of '' Z. prasina'' * ''Zamia potemkinii'' hort. x Miq. ''

'' or Syn. of '' Z. verschaffeltii'' * ''Zamia princeps'' W. Bull. ex Dyer, Syn. of '' Z. chigua'' * ''Zamia pungens'' L.f. ex Salisb., Syn. of ''

Phoenix dactylifera ''Phoenix dactylifera'', commonly known as the date palm, is a flowering-plant species in the palm family Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet #Fruits, fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across North Africa, northern A ...

'' * ''Zamia spiralis'' Salsb., Syn. of ''

Macrozamia spiralis ''Macrozamia spiralis'' is a species of cycad in the family Zamiaceae. It is endemic to New South Wales in eastern Australia, where it is found in sclerophyll forest on low-nutrient soils. Plants generally lack a trunk and have 2–12 leaves tha ...

'' * ''Zamia sylvatica'' Chamb., Syn. of '' Z. loddigesii'' * ''Zamia tenuis'' Willd., Syn. of '' Z. integrifolia'' * ''Zamia tonkinensis'' Linden & Rodigas, Syn. of '' Cycas tonkinensis'' * ''Zamia tridentata'' Willd., Syn. of ''

Macrozamia ''Macrozamia'' is a genus of around forty cycad species endemic to Australia. Many parts of the plant have been utilised for food and material, most of which is toxic if not processed correctly. Description A genus of cycads with partially sub ...

'' sp. * ''Zamia umbrosa'' Small, Syn. of '' Z. integrifolia'' * ''Zamia wielandii'' J. Schuster., Syn. of '' Z. poeppigiana'' * ''Zamia yatesii'' Miq., Syn. of '' Z. angustifolia''

Notes

References

Sources

* * *{{Cite journal , last1=Nicolalde-Morejón , first1=Fernando , last2=Vovides , first2=Andrew P. , last3=Stevenson , first3=Dennis W. , last4=Sosa , first4=Victoria , date=March 2008 , title=The identity of Zamia katzeriana and Z. verschaffeltii (Zamiaceae) , url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12228-008-9000-9 , journal=Brittonia , language=en , volume=60 , issue=1 , pages=38–48 , doi=10.1007/s12228-008-9000-9 , bibcode=2008Britt..60...38N , issn=1938-436X, url-access=subscription Lists of plant species *