Creamy yellow leaf petioles (also the older rachises) of Encephalartos lanatus leaves show the sturdy leaf structures here. The leaflets commence some distance from the ground. Where they start they are densely together all the way up. The proper leaflet shape begins with the lowermost ones, no prickles present at the base. A cycad leaf lasts for about two years on the plant. It has to be a robust structure for achieving that.
Although still short here, the dark stem top is broadly dome-shaped (Coates Palgrave, 2002; iNaturalist).