''Macrozamia dyeri'', known as ''djeeri'', is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all curr ...

in the family

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 subtropical regions of Africa, Australia and North and South Americ ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found els ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

, occurring near Esperance. The seeds are consumable when prepared correctly and were an important resource to people of the region, but the plant is otherwise toxic to many species.

Taxonomy

First described in 1885 by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vic ...

as ''Encephalartos dyeri'' (''Macrozamia dyeri''), the current combination as a species of the Australian genus ''

Macrozamia ''Macrozamia'' is a genus of around forty species of cycads, family Zamiaceae, all of which are endemic to Australia. Many parts of the plant have been utilised for food and material, most of which is toxic if not processed correctly. Descript ...

'' was published by Charles Gardner in 1930. The species name honors W. Thiselton Dyer, then Assistant Director of Kew Garden. The similar but differently pronounced word ''djeeri'' (recorded as ''Dji-ri-ji'' 'Zamia' by Symons) is a name for Macrozamia in the

Nyungar language Noongar (; also Nyungar ) is an Australian Aboriginal language or dialect continuum, spoken by some members of the Noongar community and others. It is taught actively in Australia, including at schools, universities and through public broadcastin ...

Description

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

with a large above ground trunk, taking the form of a tree. The foliage is deeply keeled with wide leaflets, and the reproductive cones are narrow and extended.

Ecology

The species is found in coastal heath on sand in which jarrah (''

Eucalyptus marginata ''Eucalyptus marginata'', commonly known as jarrah, djarraly in Noongar language and historically as Swan River mahogany, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tree with roug ...

'') is absent, restricted in range to the eastern Recherche section of the

Esperance Plains Esperance Plains, also known as Eyre Botanical District, is a biogeographic region in southern Western Australia on the south coast between the Avon Wheatbelt and Hampton bioregions, and bordered to the north by the Mallee region. It is ...

bioregion. The seeds of ''djeeri'' formed an important part of the human diet, the earliest record of this is the preparation of seed at a cave in Cape Le Grand national park dated at thirteen thousand years old. Investigation of the site revealed a ''mordak'', the instrument used to detoxify the sarcotesta that surrounds the seeds. This seeds were placed in a depression lined with leaf bases of the plant ''paalaq'', ''

Xanthorrhoea platyphylla ''Xanthorrhoea platyphylla'' is a species of grasstree of the genus '' Xanthorrhoea'' native to Western Australia. Description The perennial grass tree typically grows to a height of with the trunk reaching , scape of and the flower spike to ...

'', another crucial resource in the local culture. The sarcotesta and seeds remains buried for several weeks to become detoxified and consumable, the food product, known as ''querning'', still contains toxins at the centre of the seeds. The distribution of the plant has been correlated to sites of long term human habitation, close to lakes or springs, and freshwater points at granitic outcrops of the

kwongan Kwongan is plant community found in south-western Western Australia. The name is a Bibbelmun (Noongar) Aboriginal term of wide geographical use defined by Beard (1976) as Kwongan has replaced other terms applied by European botanists such as ...

, although the intervention of other consumers, birds and mammals, complicates a postulate that inadvertent or intentional cultivation is the primary factor in seed dispersal. Animals species involved in dispersal of the plant include birds such as the

emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus '' Dromaius''. The ...

and mammalian species '' Trichosurus vulpecula'', a common possum known locally as ''quumarl''. The toxins macrozamin and cycasin are produced by cyanobacteria engaged in nitrogen fixing at their roots.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5402529 dyeri Endemic flora of Western Australia Cycadophyta of Australia Least concern flora of Australia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller