Encephalartos

Several of the species possess stout trunks. In E. cycadifolius, the main trunks are up to {{convert|10|ft|m}} high, and several of them may be united at a base where a former main trunk once grew. The persistent, pinnate leaves are arranged in a terminal spreading crown, or ascending. The rigid leaflets are variously spiny or incised along their margins. The leaflets have a number of parallel veins and no central vein.{{cite web |url=https://treesa.org/encephalartos-natalensis/ |title=Encephalartos natalensis |publisher=TreeSA |access-date=6 July 2019}} The chromosome count is 2n=18. File:Bread tree 01.jpg

Male cones are elongated, and three or four may appear at a time. Female cones are borne singly, or up to three at a time, and may weigh up to {{convert|60|lb|kg}}. In some species, male cones with ripe pollen emit a nauseating odour. When the pollen has been shed and the males cones decay, a strong odour of acetic acid has also been noted.

Colonies of the cyanobacterium Nostoc punctiforme occur in apparent symbiosis inside the root tissue, while the rootlets produce root tubercles at ground level which harbour a mycorrhizal fungus of uncertain function, which is however suspected to facilitate the capturing of nitrogen from the air.

In several species the pith of the trunk contains a copious amount of high quality starch below the crown. This was formerly cut out by native people as food. Thunberg recorded around 1772 that the Khoekhoe removed the stem's pith at the crown and buried it wrapped in animal skin for about two months, after which they recovered it for kneading into bread,{{cite book | last = Smith | first = Christo Albertyn | title = Common Names of South African Plants | publisher = The Government Printer | series = Botanical Survey Memoir | volume = 35 | location = Pretoria | year = 1966 | pages = 179, 264 }} whence the vernacular name "broodboom" (i.e. bread tree). The burial of the pith apparently facilitated its fermentation and softening, and the dough was lightly roasted over a coal fire.{{cite news|last=Van Bart |first=Martiens |title=Kirstenbosch kweek nou ook broodbome vir die publiek |url=http://152.111.1.87/argief/berigte/dieburger/1987/05/16/3/13.html |access-date=21 January 2013 |newspaper=Die Burger |date=16 May 1987 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729225440/http://152.111.1.87/argief/berigte/dieburger/1987/05/16/3/13.html |archive-date=29 July 2013 }} In 1779 Paterson likewise found that the pith of a "large palm" near King William's Town was utilised by the Africans and Hottentots as bread. The pith was removed and left till sourish, before it was kneaded into bread.{{Citation | last = Paterson | first = William | author-link = William Paterson (explorer) | title = A Narrative of four Journeys into the Country of the Hottentots and Caffraria, in 1777-79 | year = 1789 }}

Their large seeds consist of an often poisonous kernel covered by an edible fleshy layer.{{cite book | last = Palgrave | first = K.C. | title = Trees of Southern Africa | publisher = Struik | location = Cape Town | year = 1984 | page = 43 | isbn = 0-86977-081-0}} Female cones are consequently destroyed by baboons, as they relish the pith around the seeds. Vervet monkeys, rodents and birds also feed on the seeds, but due to their unpredictable toxic qualities they are not recommended for human consumption.

The early larval instars of some aposematic, day-flying looper moths are specific to cycads, and genus Encephalartos is one of their food plants.{{cite journal |last1=Donaldson |first1=J. S. |last2=Basenberg |first2=J. D. |title=Life history and host range of the leopard magpie moth, Zerenopsis leopardina Felder (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) |journal=African Entomology |date=1995 |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=103–110 |url=http://reference.sabinet.co.za/document/AJA10213589_82 |access-date=22 September 2015}} They include the leopard magpie (most Encephalartos spp., other cycads, etc.), Millar's tiger (cultivated E. villosus), dimorphic tiger (cycads under forest canopy), spotted tigerlet (E. villosus), inflamed tigerlet (E. villosus), Staude's tigerlet (E. ngoyanus, cultivated E. villosus and Stangeria) and pallid grey (E. natalensis).{{cite book |last1=Cooper|first1=Michael Robert |last2=Goode|first2=Douglas |title=The cycads and cycad moths of Kwazulu-Natal |date=2004 |publisher=Peroniceras Press |location=New Germany [South Africa] |isbn=062031978X |pages=76–93 }}

In cultivation various scale insects attack the leaves of the genus. These include cycad aulacaspis scale, zamia scale and latania scale.{{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Douglass R. |last2=Davidson |first2=John A. |title=Armored scale insect pests of trees and shrubs: (Hemiptera: Diaspididae)|date=2005 |publisher=Cornell university press |location=Ithaca (N.Y.) |isbn=0801442796 |page=425}}

The genus was named by German botanist Johann Georg Christian Lehmann in 1834. All cycads except Cycas had been regarded as members of the genus Zamia until then, and some botanists continued to follow this line for many years after Lehmann had separated Encephalartos as a separate genus. His concept was originally much broader than the one accepted today, including also the Australian plants we now know as Macrozamia and Lepidozamia.{{cite web|title=Encephalartos woodii Sander|url=http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantefg/encephwoodii.htm|date=May 2002|author=Alice Notten|publisher=Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden and South African National Biodiversity Institute|access-date=2006-11-16|archive-date=2006-10-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061016180523/http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantefg/encephwoodii.htm|url-status=dead}}

• List of Southern African indigenous trees

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Encephalartos}}

{{Wikispecies|Encephalartos}}

{{EB1911 poster|Kaffir Bread}}

• [http://www.wild-about-you.com/AfricaCycads.htm List of African Cycads]
• [http://www.cycadsociety.org Cycad Society of South Africa]
• [http://kantongsemar.nicetopics.com/zamiaceae-c19 Indonesia Cycads Forum]{{Dead link|date=August 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

{{Plant classification}}

{{Acrogymnospermae classification}}

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Category:Taxa named by Johann Georg Christian Lehmann