Zamia Collection

[Jeff Searle]

Today I took a few pictures of some of my collection and wanted to share what I have. I have been collecting as many species as possible for over 15 years now,and decided that they would not only do better in the ground but be safer here at my house than at the nursery. I want to be able to hand pollinate them and hopefully produce a few seeds.

This first picture is looking into a Zamia inermis.

[Jeff Searle]

Looking again down into a female Z. inermis.

[Jeff Searle]

Another....

[Jeff Searle]

Last one of Zamia inermis, showing the narrow leaflets. Excuse the blurry pic.

Jeff

[virtualpalm]

Jeff, those are some nice plants. I believe Zamia inermis is an under-appreciated species that deserves to become more common in cultivation. Hopefully you can produce some seeds from those plants. I would really love to see your Z. encephalartoides cones!

Jody

[Kris]

Dear 007  

lovely stills & a beautiful vatiety of zamia cycas...i had seen few from recent ryan's stills too...

Thanks & Love,

Kris  

[Jeff Searle]

This next plant is Zamia encephalartoides, with one female cone.

[Jeff Searle]

Here's my largest of the same specie, but a male.

[Jeff Searle]

Another of the female.

[Jeff Searle]

One last one.

[Jeff Searle]

While in the same area of yard, I noticed this Cycas tansachana flushing out a new set of leaves. This plant has not coned yet.

[Jeff Searle]

And one last one.

[ghar41]

Your mixing of palms and zamias sounds incredible.   More pics, if you can...love to see the larger landscape.

Cycads and palms are blood brothers!

[Jeff Searle]

(ghar41 @ Mar. 21 2008,19:30)

QUOTE

Your mixing of palms and zamias sounds incredible.   More pics, if you can...love to see the larger landscape.

Cycads and palms are blood brothers!

Glen,

     Your absolutely right, brothers they are. I prefer to use more Zamia's and some Ceratozamias. I do have several Enceph. around the yard, but I'm trying to keep the numbers down on them because of getting poked so much while trimming them. But, I really do love the whole family and their history behind them.

Jeff

[tropicalb]

I do have several Enceph. around the yard, but I'm trying to keep the numbers down on them because of getting poked so much

Jeff....

after a while, you don't even feel it anymore. I walk thru mine and come out a bloody mess all the time, and don't even notice it 'til someone says, " uh......hey man, you're bleeding".

[ghar41]

How about Lepidozamia?  Ive seen some large plants that were incredible.  Waited for dinosaurs to walk by.

I have some Ceratos, a small kuesteriana and this unidentified plant....

[LJG]

Do you have Zamia angustifolia?

[Jeff in St Pete]

Jeff, thanks for the beautiful photos.  More please!

I have recently become much more interested in Zamias and would like to learn more about them.  Any info about these amazing plants would be appreciated!

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Nice pictures of the Zamia inermis Jeff, now know what my sedling will look like one day

regards

colin

[Jeff Searle]

(tropicalb @ Mar. 21 2008,21:42)

QUOTE

I do have several Enceph. around the yard, but I'm trying to keep the numbers down on them because of getting poked so much

Jeff....

after a while, you don't even feel it anymore. I walk thru mine and come out a bloody mess all the time, and don't even notice it 'til someone says, " uh......hey man, you're bleeding".

Burt,

     Hello, yea between these and all the bromelids, it's like going to battle. And of course, you always loose. But, it's well worth having them. Especially seeing so many of them out in So-Cal.

Jeff

[Jeff Searle]

(ghar41 @ Mar. 21 2008,22:58)

QUOTE

How about Lepidozamia?  Ive seen some large plants that were incredible.  Waited for dinosaurs to walk by.

I have some Ceratos, a small kuesteriana and this unidentified plant....

Glenn,

    I do have 3 really large Lepidozamia's in the garden, I'll include these too. Their so fern like and have done really well.

Jeff

[Jeff Searle]

(LJG @ Mar. 21 2008,23:16)

QUOTE

Do you have Zamia angustifolia?

Len,

     No, never have. Why, any reason, is it one of your favorites?

Jeff

[Jeff Searle]

Jeff & Colin,

       Thanks, I'm glad there's someone outthere watching and appreciate these plants.  Colin, when I first grew these from seed, I assumed they would be extreamly slow growing. But, their just the opposite.  And, the male coned just last year after being in the ground for only about 3 years or so. And the female cone just emerged a few months ago. I was really happy to see it a female, side by side.

Jeff

[virtualpalm]

(ghar41 @ Mar. 21 2008,22:58)

QUOTE

I have some Ceratos, a small kuesteriana and this unidentified plant....

This looks like Ceratozamia latifolia. Does it have brown-emergent leaves?

Jody

[Walter John]

Thanks Jeff, a thread like this was overdue.

How good are Zamia cycads ?

Way too good.

[Jeff Searle]

Now here's one from Panama that I don't have a name on. I have 5 plants total, one male and the rest girls. I would really like a name on this one, as I have been growing these for years now. Z. acuminata (?) Jody ?

Jeff

[Jeff Searle]

A good look at a leaf.

[Jeff Searle]

Another showing the female cone.

[Jeff Searle]

Last one of this specie.

[Gbarce]

If they are planted in relatively teh same area and have the same growingconditions do they also cone at the same time?

Are their coning cycles naturally coordinated or do they just cone at random?

[Jeff Searle]

Gene,

     Thats a really great question that I have never thought about before. After giving a few miutes to think about, I would have to say that most all of my Zamia's are coning now at the same time. And also, thats one of the nice things I like about Zamias. They do cone alot it would seem, plus they start at an early age. Maybe Jody can elaborate more on this.

Jeff

[virtualpalm]

Jeff, I think that last one is Zamia elegantissima. You REALLY need to be pollinating your plants.

Gene, cycads of a particular species typically cone around the same time each year, but very little is known about what causes plants to cone. Different species coning at the same time of year indicates to me that they may be using similar cues to initiate coning. As Jeff mentioned, zamias typically cone at a relatively early age (and small size) in cultivation. Conversely, certain species of Encephalartos or Dioon may take many years to begin coning.

Hope this helps.

Jody

[ghar41]

(virtualpalm @ Mar. 22 2008,08:45)

QUOTE

(ghar41 @ Mar. 21 2008,22:58)

QUOTE

I have some Ceratos, a small kuesteriana and this unidentified plant....

This looks like Ceratozamia latifolia. Does it have brown-emergent leaves?

Jody

Yes, it does....

[tropicalb]

This one is for Len:

[tropicalb]

I finally moved almost ALL the palms out of this greenhouse and it's going to be Zamia-mania in here!

Z. sp. "mexico":

Z. standleyi:

[Jeff Searle]

(virtualpalm @ Mar. 23 2008,09:39)

QUOTE

Jeff, I think that last one is Zamia elegantissima. You REALLY need to be pollinating your plants.

Gene, cycads of a particular species typically cone around the same time each year, but very little is known about what causes plants to cone. Different species coning at the same time of year indicates to me that they may be using similar cues to initiate coning. As Jeff mentioned, zamias typically cone at a relatively early age (and small size) in cultivation. Conversely, certain species of Encephalartos or Dioon may take many years to begin coning.

Hope this helps.

Jody

Jody,

     These plants are not Z. elegantissima. If you come for a visit, (what do I have to feed you supper to get you over here?) you would see how small these plants really are. Also, I do have Z. elegantissima (5 plants) growing in another part of my yard, which I will show later. They are pretty big. And, they flush many, light yellow leaves when they push out new growth.

Jeff

[Jeff Searle]

Here's another group of plants that I have native to Panama. I call them my Big Leaf Skinneri's. Out of 8 plants, I have 3 females I think, of which one of them is a red emergent new leaf. This one plant is holding several leaves, but normally they hold fewer.

Jeff

[Jeff Searle]

Close up of one leaf, with croton " Monarch" in background.

[Jeff Searle]

Another showing the size with my hand for scale.

[Jeff Searle]

And last one showing a female cone.