CYC AS FAMILY (Cymdaceae) 

 Low plants, with evergreen, palmlike or fernlike leaves. 



CooNTiE. Zamia (Genus Zamia) 



These lowly representatives of the strange gigantic flora 

 of past ages somewhat resemble the ferns, but, unlike ferns, 

 they bear large, brightly colored seeds; they also resemble 

 the palms, but, unlike them, they have no "flowers" in 

 the more common meaning of that word, and their peculiar 

 cones show a distant relationship to the pines. 



The handsome, dark green, leathery leaves, one to three 

 feet long, formed of many narrow, shining leaflets three 

 to five inches in length, are abundant in dry pinelands 

 in the southeastern part of the peninsula, and are in 

 sharp contrast to anything the northern flora offers. The 

 so-called "male" plants bear stamens on the under side 

 of scales, which are arranged in a brown cone. The "fe- 

 male" plants have thicker cones, on whose scales naked 

 seeds are borne. The fertilization of these seeds is re- 

 markable, and when they ripen the brown scales that 

 have protected them are pushed apart, and the scarlet or 

 orange-colored seeds fall in a conspicuous mass. 



To Florida Indians these plants, which they called 

 coontie — i.e., flour-root — were of supreme importance, as 

 from the thick underground stems they prepared a su- 

 perior food-starch that formed a large part of their diet. 

 This is now prepared commercially as Florida arrow- 

 root. 



The generic names of the several species found in Florida 

 have been confused, and have been subject to change. 



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