Encephalartos lebomboensis (Retief)

Encephalartos lebomboensis, the Retief form of E. lebomboensis or Piet Retief cycad, grows only near the town of Piet Retief and (another form of it) near Mananga, also in Mpumalanga.

The photo shows a plant with cones at the end of April (autumn in South Africa), that has received extraordinarily much late summer rain. This has caused a “premature” and robust growth of new leaves to appear in the centre among the cones. This is unusual as new leaves normally only appear during the next summer following the production of cones, leaving the cones as solitary adornment in the hub of the crown at the stem apex through winter. The cones may be yellow or salmon pink; golden yellow in this case.

It can be seen that some seeds have already been released at the top of the cone. Up to three cones may be produced together in one season by this species. The male cones are much narrower than female ones as is usual for cycads. The seeds are bright red (Coates Palgrave 2002; www.plantzafrica.com; www.florcomgardens.co.za).