Encephalartos character glossary

Forms an upright trunk above ground.

What to look for: A visible stem lifting the crown off the soil in mature plants.

The stem stays mostly underground.

What to look for: Leaves appear to rise straight from the soil.

Produces side shoots (suckers) from the base, forming a clump.

What to look for: Several crowns from one plant.

Wool on the stem apex between the leaf bases.

What to look for: Colour and density of wool in the centre of the crown.

Heavy wool: E. ghellinckii, E. cycadifolius.

A reduced, often woolly scale leaf produced around a new leaf flush.

What to look for: Brown, pointed scales at the crown, below the green leaves.

Leaves held upright, close to vertical.

What to look for: A narrow, upward-pointing crown.

Leaves rise and then curve gently outward.

What to look for: A shallow even curve along the whole leaf.

The leaf (rachis) bends back on itself toward the tip.

What to look for: Leaf tips curling down and back toward the ground.

Strongly recurved: E. horridus.

Covered in a waxy bloom giving a blue, grey or silver colour.

What to look for: Rubs off with a finger; fades with age and sun.

E. horridus, E. lehmannii, E. princeps.

A newly produced, still-soft leaf.

What to look for: Often woolly and a different colour to mature leaves — do not use for ID.

The leafless lower part of the leaf.

What to look for: Length from the stem to the first leaflet.

The stalk carries prickles (often reduced leaflets).

What to look for: Small spines along the stalk.

The stalk is smooth with no prickles.

What to look for: A clean stalk below the first full leaflet.

The axis runs in one line without bending.

What to look for: A leaf you could lay flat on a table.

The axis rotates along its length, turning the leaflets into different planes.

What to look for: Leaflets near the tip face a different way to those at the base.

The two rows of leaflets rise from the rachis at an angle, forming a V in cross-section.

What to look for: View the leaf end-on from the tip.

Both rows of leaflets lie in one plane.

What to look for: End-on the leaf forms a straight line.

Leaflets attach in pairs directly, or almost directly, across from each other.

What to look for: Compare left and right attachment points.

Neighbouring leaflets overlap like roof tiles.

What to look for: Leaflet edges lying over the next leaflet.

Leaflets are well spaced with gaps between them.

What to look for: Visible rachis between leaflets.

The angle at which a leaflet leaves the rachis.

What to look for: Pointing forward toward the tip, at right angles, or reflexed back.

Leaflets get progressively smaller toward the base until they become spines.

What to look for: A smooth size step-down from full leaflets to prickles along the lower leaf.

Full-size leaflets continue to near the base, then stop.

What to look for: Large leaflets suddenly ending at a bare or short petiole.

Narrow, widest below the middle, tapering to the tip.

What to look for: A spear-shaped leaflet.

Thick, stiff and leathery.

What to look for: Leaflets that do not bend easily.

The leaflet blade runs down onto the rachis where it attaches.

What to look for: A broad, flared attachment instead of a narrow stalk.

The blade is cut into large lobes, each ending in a spine.

What to look for: Leaflets shaped like a holly leaf or a trident.

Deeply lobed: E. horridus.

The margin has no teeth at all.

What to look for: A smooth edge along the whole leaflet.

E. ghellinckii, E. laevifolius.

The margin carries teeth or small spines.

What to look for: Count the teeth and note which margin carries them.

Upper (toward the leaf tip) and lower (toward the leaf base) edges of the leaflet.

What to look for: Teeth on one margin only, or on both.

The leaflet tip ends in a sharp, rigid spine.

What to look for: A needle-like point at the leaflet tip.

The margin rolls under toward the lower surface.

What to look for: A rounded, rolled edge seen from below.

Veins run lengthwise, side by side, without a midrib.

What to look for: Fine lines along the leaflet.

Veins raised above the surface, or level with it and hard to see.

What to look for: Run a finger across the underside.

Male cones (usually several, narrower) and female cones (usually fewer, broader).

What to look for: Number per crown, colour, size and shape.

The stalk carrying the cone.

What to look for: Long and visible, or hidden in the crown.

The outer exposed end of each cone scale.

What to look for: Smooth, warty (verrucose) or swollen (bullate).