GYMNOSPERMS 



317 



.of commerce is made from a true palm. This practice exposes 

 some cycads to danger of extinction, but others which are 

 literally weeds, as Zamia integrifolia and Zamia Floridana 

 in southern Florida, are too abundant to incur this danger. 



FIG. 263. A cycad plant showing the straight stem, the crown of rigid leaves, 

 and the seed cone 



There is a common greenhouse cycad ( Cycas revoluta) which 

 is often improperly called sago palm, for it is not a palm at 

 all. This plant bears large staminate cones, but the carpels 

 (megasporophylls) are borne in clusters at the tip of the stem. 

 Most of the cycads, however, bear their carpels in the form of 



