52 THE LIVING CYCADS 



The leaves of young plants are very spiny, and even 

 on the largest plants one can usually find leaflets which 

 .have two or three spines; but a careful examination is 

 hkely to show some leaves on which all the leaflets have 

 entire margins. Such leaves the taxonomist is sure to 

 identify as Encephalartos caffer, and local botanists have 

 amused themselves by sending entire and spiny leaves 

 to European herbaria, to trap the taxonomists into 

 identifying two species from the same plant. The 

 scheme has succeeded so well that one should look with 

 considerable suspicion upon herbarium specimens identi- 

 fied only by the leaf. 



Another cycad in the East London region is 

 Encephalartos villosus, the most widely cultivated and 

 most popular species of the genus. In nature it grows 

 in shaded localities, but it thrives on lawns and in parks 

 if well watered, and in greenhouses it reaches a size and 

 luxuriance not likely to be found where there is any 

 struggle for existence. 



The stem is entirely subterranean. The leaves, 

 which reach a length of ten feet, have a bright-green 

 color and a graceful curve which give this species its 

 decorative value. It is very easily grown. A stem 

 about as large as one's fist was sent to me in 1908 from 

 Cape Town, simply wrapped in a piece of burlap. It 

 was potted, but for two years did not produce a single 

 leaf. It is now a magnificent specimen in the green- 

 house at the University of Chicago, with a dozen leaves 

 ten feet long. 



The other cycad of the East London region is 

 Encephalartos cycadifolius. It is very rare, and the 

 cones have not been described. The leaves have a 



