Encephalartos horridus female cone

The female cone of Encephalartos horridus, or the cone of a female plant, the fruit cone, is ovoid in shape. It is wider than the nearly cylindrical male cone, the pollen cone, grown on another plant, a male one. The male cone narrows at both ends and is bluer in colour. Female cones are up to 40 cm long and 20 cm wide in the centre. The male cone is similar in length but only 12 cm in diameter.

The gender of Encephalartos plants cannot be determined by sight other than when cones are present. E. horridus grows only a single cone per plant in season, true for both its male and female plants.

The woody scales covering the cone are arranged in numerous spiralling rows, as on cycad cones generally. The scales are here about flat-topped and mostly slightly whiter or browner on top. They have flattened sides also, but those may bulge slightly between the seams. Some of the scales in the photo are nearly rhombic or rounded in top outline or boat-shaped overall. The tops become slightly inclined towards the lower side. The scales in picture are whitish grey with a little brown among the upper ones that will ripen first. This brown colouring may deepen.

The seeds grown under the scales in these female cones, pale red to carmine. Pollination of this and other cycad plants is done by insects, while birds, baboons and monkeys disperse the seeds when eating the fleshy outer parts. The toxic seed inner parts are discarded, allowing them to germinate where dropped, should conditions permit (Hugo, 2014; iNaturalist; Wikipedia; http://pza.sanbi.org).