Common Names
Broadleaf kafferbread.Description
"[A]n erect species, sometimes branched from the base, with stems up to over 10 feet (3 m) tall, and a crown of long, hard, arching or curved leaves, with distinctive leaflets that are broad - the middle ones up to nearly 2 1/2 inches (6.2 cm) in width - and 2-lobed at the apex, and with the lower margins bearing sharp and often twisted lobes. ... One to three cones are borne and these are a dark green and large. The female are the biggest, up to 2 feet (60 cm) long, with large red seeds" (2).Range
South Africa: Bathurst and Albany districts of the eastern Cape, in scrub bush on rocky hill slopes (2).Remarks
Nearly extinct in the wild due to poaching; now too widely dispersed for natural reproduction to occur (1)."The name latifrons means 'broad-fronded'.
"Encephalartos latifrons is believed the slowest growing of all the tree cycads.
"This species is sometimes confused with E. arenarius R.A. Dyer, which grows in scrub on the sand dunes in the Alexandria district. This, however, is a short species not reaching tree size" (2).
Citations
(1) Jones 1993.(2) Palmer & Pitman 1972.
[Encephalartos] [Zamiaceae] [home]
This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/2285/za/en/latifrons.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
E-mail:earlecj@earthlink.net
Last modified on 29-Dec-98