456 PHARMACEUTICAL BOTANY 
Lire Hisrory or ZAMIA 
Aamia, a representation of the Cycads, possesses a plant body 
or sporophyte which is short with a cylindrical erect stem con- 
Fic. 343.—Cycas revoluta. The trunk of this cycad stores an enormous amount 
of starch, It is one of the sources of Sago starch of commerce. Note the crown of 
pinnately-compound leaves. 
taining a large central pith which is surrounded by a circle of 
open collateral bundles and by a broad cortex in whose cells 
great amounts of starch are stored. The summit of the stem 
