''Macrozamia'' is a genus of around forty

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 ...

species

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. 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

s with partially submerged bole or tree, small to medium height, bearing a crown of palm-like fronds. The

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

plants bear large cones, becoming even larger when ripening on the female, containing reproductive parts of great size.

Taxonomy

The first description of the genus was published in 1842 by

Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel (24 October 1811 – 23 January 1871) was a Dutch botanist whose main focus of study was on the flora of the Dutch East Indies. Early life Miquel was born in Neuenhaus and studied medicine at the University of Gr ...

in his ''Monographia Cycadearum'', without designating a type. The common name "burrawang", originally referring to ''M. communis'' in the Daruk Australian Aboriginal language, is often used for all the species in the genus. Informal names published in state listing for the genus include 'rickets' (Bailey, 1931) in Queensland, a name also used in Western Australia for the symptoms of ingestion of species by cattle, and terms zamia, zamia palm, burrawang palm (Ross, 1989) and djeeri (Hopper, 2014) continued to be noted by New South Wales, QLD and W.A. authors in specific and generic usages.APNI cite: Bailey, F.M. (1913), ''Comprehensive Catalogue of Queensland Plants'': 513

Species

Distribution

The greatest diversity of species occurs in eastern Australia, in southeast

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, with one species in the

Macdonnell Ranges The MacDonnell Ranges, or Tjoritja in Arrernte language, Arrernte, is a mountain range located in southern Northern Territory. MacDonnell Ranges is also the name given to an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australia ...

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

and three in the southwest region of Australia.

References

* *

External links

* * * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q138789 Endemic flora of Australia Cycadophyta of Australia Taxa named by Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel