Encephalartos gratus

Encephalartos gratus, the Mulanje cycad, grows a stem of 2,5 m to 4 m. It usually grows fast and solitary, although clumps may be formed. The Latin word gratus means pleasing or welcome. This is not a South African cycad.

The usually straight leaves become slightly longer than 2 m. The leaves have long petioles and the lowest leaflets are reduced to prickles. The mostly straight leaflets have several spines along their margins and sometimes a slight curve near the tip. Leaflet surfaces in picture are bright green and shiny.

Single or paired, thick orange (female) or multiple dark brown (male) cones that are long and thin, are produced.

The distribution is limited to (reducing) parts of the Zambesia Province of Mozambique and Malawi’s Mulanje district where it grows in deciduous forest on steep slopes, in rocky ravines near streams and in savanna. The young plant in the photo was seen in Kirstenbosch in March.

The habitat population is considered vulnerable early in the twenty first century, due to agricultural activities, especially tea plantations. The plant is adapted to periodic fires.

This plant has been known to the botanical world since its discovery in 1899 in Malawi (http://www.cycadpalm.com; www.palmbeachpalmcycadsociety.com; http://www.iucnredlist.org).