Encephalartos princeps many stems

The multi-stemmed growth habit of Encephalartos princeps is shown here: A short stem carries a solitary cone, while the stem behind it is too tall for even its leaves to be captured in the photo.

E. princeps suckers readily, producing clusters of up to 15 stems in one mature plant. There may be cones upon several of the unevenly sized, sometimes reclining stem tops of one plant.

All such cones will be of the same gender though, as cycads are dioecious, the “other” gender cone growing on a different plant. Hopefully plants representing the two genders will grow close together to facilitate pollination, as few pollinators do marathons during meals.

Various animals like bats, birds and rodents also eat the fleshy seed coverings that will arrive later, contributing in the process to seed dispersal. Everybody needs friends to survive and feeding them according to their needs always helps (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Hugo, 2014; www.plantzafrica.com).