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THE GABDENER'S ASSISTANT 



The cultural requirements of Cycads are of 

 the ordinary character. They do not require 

 much room at the roots, but they like a rich 

 soil, well drained, and when growing they 

 delight in daily supplies of water, both at the 

 root and overhead. Liquid manure may be 

 given when the new fronds have matured, as 

 this deepens the green colour. 



Cycas revoluta and C. circinalis (fig. 742) retain 

 their leaves for a number of years, but some of 

 the species, C. pedinata, for instance, lose them 



Fig. 742.— Cycas circinalis. 



as a rule every year. When the fronds sicken 

 it may be taken as an indication that the plant 

 requires a rest, which is afforded by with- 

 holding water for a few weeks. This usually 

 happens in winter. To start them into growth 

 again they should be shaken out, repotted in 

 fresh soil, placed in a warm, moist house — if 

 plunged in a hot-bed so much the better — and 

 watered, at first sparingly, increasing the supply 

 as the fronds push into vigorous growth. Some- 

 times the stems decay at the base. They should 

 then be renovated by cutting off the healthy 

 upper part of the stem and planting it as a 

 cutting. This may be done without risk, and 

 is often advisable even for plants which do not 

 show evidences of decay, but are nevertheless 

 sickly. This tenacity of life in the stems of 

 Cycads has its only parallel in the plants of 

 one other order, viz. Cacti. The production of 



the cones by Cycads sometimes results in the 

 loss of the central bud, and all the fronds die. 

 The stems will, however, often push out lateral 

 growths, and fine specimens have been developed 

 by such decapitated stems under skilful manage- 

 ment. It may be said that if only a portion of 

 the stem of a Cycad has life in it one need not 

 despair of its ultimate revival. A Macrozamia 

 stem, 2 feet in diameter and 10 feet high, was 

 cut through the middle, and the top rooted in 

 about two years, just as if it had been a Cactus. 



Cycas differs from other genera in having 

 a conspicuous midrib extending up the whole 

 length of the pinnae. Stangeria, a South African 

 genus, also has this character, but differs very 

 markedly from Cycas in all other respects. 



The species available for and worthy of cul- 

 tivation are : — 



Bowenia. — Stem a fleshy tuber; leaves with smooth 

 erect stalks 2 to 3 feet high, bearing a bipirmate frond- 

 like blade 2 to 3 feet long and wide, the pinnules ovate 

 elongate, shining-green. B. spectabiUs, a native of North 

 Queensland, is the only species; var. serrulata has toothed 

 pinnules. 



Ceratozamia. — Mexican plants with thick short trunks, 

 bearing arching pinnate leaves, which vary in length and 

 in the size of the leaflets with age. The largest of all, 

 C. Mexicana, when full grown, has leaves 12 feet long, 

 and leaflets 2 feet long. Where space can be afforded, 

 this is a truly noble plant. There are several varieties of 

 it. Other species are C. Kustcriana, C. latifolia, C. 

 Miqueliana. 



Cycas. — The distinguishing characters of this genus 

 have already been mentioned. There are some twenty 

 species known, all of them worthy of cultivation; the most 

 popular being : — 



C. circinalis is longer and coarser in the leaves than 

 C. revoluta, and grows to a greater height; in Ceylon, 

 its thick stem attains a height of 20 feet, and is some- 

 times branched. One of the Kew specimens is 10 feet 

 high, and has a magnificent head of fronds 12 feet through, 

 about eighty radiating from the top of the stem. It is 

 known as the Sago-Palm, and is the source of a con- 

 siderable cpuantity of sago, which is obtained from the 

 pith of its fleshy stems. 



C. pectinata from Sikkim, is rare in cultivation, but 

 it is one of the most graceful of Cycads. A plant of it 

 at Kew, with a stem only 1 foot high, bore about twenty 

 nearly upright leaves, each 8 feet long, of a rich deep 

 green, and as elegant as an ostrich plume. 



C. revoluta. — The hardiest of all Cycads, and will 

 live in an ordinary greenhouse or dwelling-room, but is 

 most satisfactory when grown in a warm house where the 

 whorls of leaves are produced in quick succession. Leaves 

 used for church decoration remain perfectly fresh and 

 green for a month, although not in water; they are also 

 employed in decoration when dead. It lives to a great 

 age, the stem increasing in height very slowly; one 

 10 feet high would probably be 100 years old. The 

 female is commoner in cultivation than the male. A 

 very fine male cone, 16 inches long, was developed by a 

 plant in the Palm -house at Kew (see fig. 741, 3 ). The 

 female has numerous short, comb -like, brown, velvety 

 fronds in a cluster, bearing nut-like ovules (see fig. 74l, 4 ). 



