Encephalartos friderici-guilielmi grown tall

This old Encephalartos friderici-guilielmi tree grows in the natural state in the Eastern Cape, although that state has undergone transformation in the hands of the people who have lived here over the tree’s lifetime.

Retention of such trees wherever they grow naturally says something for the progress humanity is making in its understanding of its place in nature.

The thick trunk is bare lower down, while a section covered in old, dead leaves occurs higher up. Some narrowing of the trunk has occurred below the live leaves. It is unknown why there is a bare stem section below the top.