Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male or female. Cycads vary in size from having trunks only a few centimeters to several meters tall. They typically grow slowly and have long lifespans. Because of their superficial resemblance to palms or ferns, they are sometimes mistaken for them, but they are not closely related to either group. Cycads are gymnosperms (naked-seeded), meaning their unfertilized seeds are open to the air to be directly fertilized by pollination, as contrasted with angiosperms, which have enclosed seeds with more complex fertilization arrangements. Cycads have very specialized pollinators, usually a specific species of beetle. Both male and female cycads bear cones (strobili), somewhat similar to conifer cones.
Cycas is a genus of cycad, and the only genus in the family Cycadaceae with all other genera of cycad being divided between the Stangeriaceae and Zamiaceae families. Cycas circinalis, a species endemic to India, was the first cycad species to be described in western literature, and is the type species of the genus.
Zamia pumila, commonly known as guáyiga or guáyara in Spanish, is a small, tough, woody cycad native to the Greater Antilles. Z. pumila was the first species described for the genus and, therefore, is the type species for the genus Zamia, the Zamia pumila species complex, and the family Zamiaceae.
The Zamiaceae are a family of cycads that are superficially palm or fern-like. They are divided into two subfamilies with eight genera and about 150 species in the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Australia and North and South America.
Zamia is a genus of cycad of the family Zamiaceae, native to North America from the United States throughout the West Indies, Central America, and South America as far south as Bolivia. The genus is considered to be the most ecologically and morphologically diverse of the cycads, and is estimated to have originated about 68.3 million years ago.
Chigua was formerly recognized as a genus of cycads in the family Zamiaceae containing two species described in 1990. It was re-described as a single species in the genus Zamia in 2009.
Zamia amplifolia is a species of plant in the family Zamiaceae. It is endemic to the Calima River watershed of Valle del Cauca Department, Colombia. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Zamia angustifolia is a species of plant in the genus Zamia. It is found in the Bahamas, where it is threatened by habitat loss, and in Cuba, where it is abundant.
Zamia lucayana is a species of plant in the family Zamiaceae, part of the Zamia pumila species complex. It is endemic to the Bahamas, and is endangered by habitat loss. Z. lucayana is known locally as "bay rush".
Zamia pseudoparasitica is a species of plant in the family Zamiaceae. It is endemic to Panama.
Zamia pygmaea is a species of plant in the family Zamiaceae found only in Cuba. It is the smallest living cycad. It is listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List based on its limited distribution, severely fragmented habitat, and population of less than 250 mature individuals.
Zamia roezlii is a species of cycad, a palm-like pachycaulous plant in the family Zamiaceae. It is found in Colombia and the Pacific coast of Ecuador. It is named for the Czech botanist Benedikt Roezl. A single sperm cell from Zamia roezlii is about 0.4 mm in length and is visible to the unaided eye, being the world's largest plant sperm cell. Drosophila bifurca, a species of fruit fly, has sperm that are 5.8 cm long, albeit mostly coiled tail. The tree is up to 22 feet in height with fronds up to ten feet long bearing leaflets up to twenty inches long and six inches wide.>
Zamia wallisii is a species of plant in the Coontie Family (Zamiaceae). It is endemic to Colombia. Its common name is chigua.
Zamia erosa is a species of cycad native to the Caribbean islands of Jamaica, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, described by Orator Fuller Cook and Guy N. Collins in 1903. The species formerly known as Z. amblyphyllidia was determined in 2010 to be the same species as Z. erosa. It is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN Red List.
Zamia incognita is a species of cycad in the family Zamiaceae. It is endemic to Colombia.
Zamia stricta is a species of cycad in the family Zamiaceae. It is endemic to Cuba.
Zamia tolimensis is a species of cycad in the family Zamiaceae.
Zamia huilensis is a species of cycad in the family Zamiaceae.
Zamia integrifolia, also known as coontie, is a small, tough, woody cycad native to the southeastern United States, the Bahamas, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Puerto Rico.
Restrepophyllum is a genus of fossil foliage attributable to the Zamiaceae. This genus is found in Early Cretaceous rocks from Argentina.
