Encephalartos lehmannii

Encephalartos lehmannii, the Karoo cycad, has narrow blue-grey leaves. The leaflets or pinnae are rarely slightly toothed, with just one or two teeth occurring on the lower margins, but typically this plant has leaves with entire margins. The leaf-base has a characteristic yellow collar where the petiole joins the stem. The leaf rachis (to which the pinnae are attached) may curve or twist towards the upper end. The lowest few leaflets may only be small prickles while those near the centre part of the leaf are the longest.

The stem may grow to about 2 m in height with a diameter of up to 50 cm. E. lehmannii often grows suckers close to the stem that may develop into a clump of up to 10 stems on a mature plant. The stem also tends to recline.

The cones grow singly on short and thick peduncles (stalks), are bluish green, with blackish red hairs on the end of the seed scales. The female cone is more than double the thickness of the thin male one. Cycads are dioecious, i.e. the male and female cones always occur on separate plants (Coates Palgrave, 2002; www.plantzafrica.com; www.cycadsociety.org).