Encephalartos aemulans fronds

These upturned tips of the slightly falcate leaflets of Encephalartos aemulans, each tending to curve in its own way, generally point their spine-tips to the sky. The lower leaflet margins bulge, the upper ones tending from straight to concave in shape. The irregular appearance of leaflet teeth favours the lower parts of leaflets and their upper margins.

The leaves of E. aemulans resemble those of E. lebomboensis, while there is a resemblance to E. natalensis in the tubercular, rounded protrusions upon the female cones (Hugo, 2014; Coates Palgrave, 2002; Vorster, SA Journal of Botany, 1990, 56(2), pp 239-243; iNaturalist).