''Macrozamia miquelii'', is a species 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 ...

in the plant 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 America. ...

. It is

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 ...

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 ...

Eastern Australia The eastern states of Australia are the states adjoining the east continental coastline of Australia. These are the mainland states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, and the island state of Tasmania. The Australian Capital Territor ...

. Located within

sclerophyll forests Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct ...

dominated by

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...

trees, the cycad grows on nutrient-poor soils. It is recognised within the Zamiaceae family for its, medium height at 1 m, intermediate size of male and female cones and lighter green leaves compared to other cycads within the plant family of Zamiaceae. The seeds have an orange red

sarcotesta The sarcotesta is a fleshy seedcoat, a type of testa. Examples of seeds with a sarcotesta are pomegranate, ginkgo ''Ginkgo'' is a genus of non-flowering seed plants, assigned to the gymnosperms. The scientific name is also used as the Eng ...

which attracts fauna consumption, allowing a mutualistic

seed dispersal In spermatophyte plants, seed dispersal is the movement, spread or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their seeds, including both abiotic vectors, ...

for the cycad. These seeds are also

edible An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from " eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushroo ...

for human consumption if prepared correctly to remove the

toxin A toxin is a naturally occurring poison produced by metabolic activities of living cells or organisms. They occur especially as proteins, often conjugated. The term was first used by organic chemist Ludwig Brieger (1849–1919), derived ...

Description

''Macrozamia miquelii'' are

acaulescent This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary ...

. The

caudex A caudex (: caudices) of a plant is a stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695 In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, "caudex" is most ...

, which can grow to a diameter of 45 cm and 50 cm in height, is usually subterranean with little of it being visible above ground. This cycad has between 20 and 80 slightly glossy dark green

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

(

frond A frond is a large, divided leaf. In both common usage and botanical nomenclature, the leaves of ferns are referred to as fronds and some botanists restrict the term to this group. Other botanists allow the term frond to also apply to the lar ...

s) in its crown, each leaf growing to a length of 2.3 m long. The leaves consist of 80 to 160 leaflets, each leaflet is 15 cm to 50 cm long, 8 mm to 20 mm wide and are covered in grey-brown hairs. Leaflets are discolorous with a dark green and slightly glossy upper surface and a paler green lower surface. Distal leaflets are spaced closely to other leaflets while proximal leaflets are more spread out. The

rachis In biology, a rachis (from the [], "backbone, spine") is a main axis or "shaft". In zoology and microbiology In vertebrates, ''rachis'' can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this case the ''rachi ...

of the ''Macrozamia miquelii'' remains straight with a pale green colour and the leaflets are inserted at 40 degree angles to the rachis. ''Macrozamia miquelii'' like all cycads are

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 ...

. The male cycad develops 1 to 5 male (

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...

) cones, each cone measuring 12 cm to 28 cm in length and 4 cm to 7 cm in diameter. These cones are

fusiform Fusiform (from Latin ''fusus'' ‘spindle’) means having a spindle (textiles), spindle-like shape that is wide in the middle and tapers at both ends. It is similar to the lemon (geometry), lemon-shape, but often implies a focal broadening of a ...

but curve with age and remain green throughout its lifetime. The female (

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

) cycad develops 1 to 3 female cones, each cone measuring 25 cm to 40 cm in length and 10 cm to 15 cm in diameter. The female cone remains green and has a cylindrical shape. Seeds are oblong, with a length of 2 cm to 3 cm and diameter of 1.5 cm to 2 cm. The

has an orange yellow colour which turns reddish-orange when the seeds are ripe.

Taxonomy

When originally named in 1862,

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (; 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 Victoria, Australia ...

called this cycad, ''Encephalartos miquelii''. The species name honours Dutch botanist

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 ...

. As an early pioneer of cycad systematics, Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel studied numerous species of cycads.

Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson (26 June 1925 – 1 August 1997) known as Lawrie Johnson, was an Australian Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic botany, botanist. He worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, for the whole of his professional car ...

lectotypified the name in 1959 using the Thozet collection from

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite. The Scottish- ...

. Although Ferdinand von Mueller had already indicated a preferred application, a proposal to conserve the name with Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson's lectotype was rejected by the

International Association for Plant Taxonomy The International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) is an organization established to promote an understanding of plant biodiversity, facilitate international communication of research between botanists, and oversee matters of uniformity and ...

(IAPT) committee. This occurred as it was considered that Ferdinand von Mueller's later attempt at restricting application of the name did not equate to lectotypification.

Distribution and habitat

''Macrozamia miquelii'' is endemic to both southern Queensland and northern NSW, from

Port Curtis District Port Curtis is a both a port and a pastoral district in Queensland, Australia. It is located off the coast of the present-day city of Gladstone and was the original name of the township. The Port Curtis pastoral district in and around Gladstone ...

to the upper

Richmond River The Richmond River is a river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may ...

. The cycad is located on ridges and slopes within

where eucalyptus tree species including the ''

Corymbia citriodora ''Corymbia citriodora'', commonly known as lemon-scented gum and other common names, is a species of tall tree that is endemic to north-eastern Australia. It has smooth white to pink bark, narrow lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds ...

'' and ''

Eucalyptus crebra ''Eucalyptus crebra'', commonly known as the narrow-leaved ironbark, narrow-leaved red ironbark or simply ironbark, and as muggago in the indigenous Tharawal, Dharawal language, is a species of small to medium-sized tree Endemism, endemic to east ...

'' dominate the

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

. Scattered within these forests, the cycad grows on low-nutrient stony or sandy soils at an altitude range of 10 m to 540 m.

Ecology

The male cones of ''Macrozamia miquelii'' mature from January to March, with growths on the cone called

sporophyll In botany, a sporophyll is a leaf that bears sporangia. Both microphylls and megaphylls can be sporophylls. In heterosporous plants, sporophylls (whether they are microphylls or megaphylls) bear either megasporangia and thus are called megasp ...

. Hanging under the sporophyll are several male reproductive organs known as pollen sacs that produce

. Throughout the maturity, the male cone becomes elongated with gaps forming between individual sporophylls. The female cones produce fewer sporophyll and are larger than male cones. Each female cone will have two to eight female reproductive organs known as

ovule In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: the ''integument'', forming its outer layer, the ''nucellus'' (or remnant of the sporangium, megasporangium), ...

s which if fertilised will develop into seeds. Similarly, as the female cone matures from January to March, it splits apart allowing openings between the cones. Macrozamia miquelii cone

The mature cycad requires a mutualistic relationship with fauna for its

pollination Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma (botany), stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or bu ...

and

Thrips Thrips (Order (biology) , order Thysanoptera) are minute (mostly long or less), slender insects with fringed wings and unique asymmetrical mouthparts. Entomologists have species description , described approximately 7,700 species. They fly on ...

are lured to the male cones through the use of a strong and pungent scent. The pollen grains from male cones stick to the thrip's body and can attract more than 50,000 thrips. Female cones also emit a scent when mature, attracting the pollen covered thrips and allowing pollination to occur. Once pollinated, female cones close and expand rapidly. As the sarcotesta is bright, avian and mammalian species are attracted to the seeds. With no toxins in the sarcotesta, smaller fauna including

wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

possums Possum may refer to: Animals * Didelphimorphia, or (o)possums, an order of marsupials native to the Americas ** Didelphis, a genus of marsupials within Didelphimorphia *** Common opossum, native to Central and South America *** Virginia opossum, ...

and

crow A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly, a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not linked scientifically to any certain trait but is rathe ...

s strip off the sarcotesta, leaving the seed untouched. This would not contribute to the propagation of ''Macrozamia miquelii'' as most seeds would be left within a metre of the parent cycad. Larger fauna such as

emu The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the genus ''Dromaius'' and the ...

s and

cassowaries Cassowaries (; Biak language, Biak: ''man suar'' ; ; Papuan_languages, Papuan: ''kasu weri'' ) are flightless birds of the genus ''Casuarius'', in the order Casuariiformes. They are classified as ratites, flightless birds without a keel (bird a ...

have been observed contributing to seed dispersal as the seeds can be ingested and defecated intact without harming the fauna.

Conservation

''Macrozamia miquelii'' was rated as ''least concern'' by the

IUCN 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 status ...

in 2009. The IUCN has also indicated the cycad to have a decreasing population trend as a result of a declining quality of

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

. Conservation areas where the cycad species is protected includes

Byfield National Park Byfield National Park is a national park in the Shire of Livingstone, Queensland, Australia. Geography The park is 70 km north-east of Rockhampton. The parks encloses 12 km of coastline including four beaches. To the north of the ...

and

Mount Archer National Park Mount Archer National Park is a national park in Central Queensland, Australia, northwest of Brisbane. It makes up the backdrop to the city of Rockhampton which marks the start of Tropical Queensland. It comprises of open forests and woodland ...

. The IUCN estimates a total of 10,000 to 20,000 mature individual plants remain within the wild.

Uses

The seeds of the ''Macrozamia miquelii'' are edible after being treated. The

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

utilised multiple traditional preparation techniques such as leaching the seeds in water and aging, to remove the toxins within the seeds for consumption. One method of treatment involved pounded seeds being placed within a

dilly bag A dillybag or dilly bag is a traditional Australian Aboriginal bag generally woven from plant fibres. Dillybags are mainly designed and used by women to gather and transport food, and are most commonly found in the northern parts of Australia. ...

that would then be left in a running stream for 6 days. This would reduce the mass of the seeds to form a paste. The paste would then be baked in ashes making the seeds edible. The

pith Pith, or medulla, is a tissue in the stems of vascular plants. Pith is composed of soft, spongy parenchyma cells, which in some cases can store starch. In eudicotyledons, pith is located in the center of the stem. In monocotyledons, it ex ...

of the cycad is also useful as it contains a toxic starch that once processed to remove the toxins, is edible and used in laundries.

Toxicity

Most parts of the ''Macrozamia miquelii'' are toxic with the seeds of the cycad having a higher concentration of azoxyglycosides, including

cycasin Cycasin is a carcinogenic and neurotoxic glucoside found in cycads such as ''Cycas revoluta'' and ''Zamia pumila''. Symptoms of poisoning include vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, seizures, and hepatotoxicity. In metabolic conditions, cycasin is hydrol ...

and macrozamin, than other parts of the plant. Other toxins identified within the cycad include β-Methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) which acts as a powerful

neurotoxin Neurotoxins are toxins that are destructive to nervous tissue, nerve tissue (causing neurotoxicity). Neurotoxins are an extensive class of exogenous chemical neurological insult (medical), insultsSpencer 2000 that can adversely affect function ...

if ingested. The ingestion of raw cycad seeds by an animal can lead to death and cause

nausea Nausea is a diffuse sensation of unease and discomfort, sometimes perceived as an urge to vomit. It can be a debilitating symptom if prolonged and has been described as placing discomfort on the chest, abdomen, or back of the throat. Over 30 d ...

and

diarrhea Diarrhea (American English), also spelled diarrhoea or diarrhœa (British English), is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements in a day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration d ...

in humans as well as death in some cases. Cycad leaves are also dangerous due to β-Methylamino-L-alanine and have been recorded to cause hind end paralysis and death in cattle.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5402568 miquelii Flora of Queensland Cycadophyta of Australia Endemic flora of Australia Least concern flora of Australia Least concern biota of Queensland Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller