Cycad cones and flushes

[Tracy]

I finished trimming these Cycas thouarsii just in time to make space for a few new flushes.

[mnorell]

Tracy--

That's a beautiful plant (or plants) you have there...but does C. thouarsii naturally pup like that? Or did you just plant a bunch together to guarantee seed production? I recently bought several small plants of this species and in determining their planting locations/space allocations, etc., I was assuming (also from many photos around) that this was a primarily solitary species....?

[Tracy]

I planted 8 solitary Cycas thouarsii over the years, including the 5 along the wall above.  Only one has remained solitary over the years.  If I were diligent I could have removed some pups to keep them more contained but you see I didn't.   My Cycas thouarsii × cupida have also been vigorously pupping.   

[Tracy]

I was actually a little disappointed to find this flush.  My chunky monkey Encephalartos longifolius has never put out any pups... until now.  I would have been fine with a subterranean pup that I could remove.  No such luck.  I prefer the clean aesthetic that it has without this pup, but won't risk scarring the caudex by trying to remove it.  Live and let live.

[tinman10101]

7 minutes ago, Tracy said:

I was actually a little disappointed to find this flush.  My chunky monkey Encephalartos longifolius has never put out any pups... until now.  I would have been fine with a subterranean pup that I could remove.  No such luck.  I prefer the clean aesthetic that it has without this pup, but won't risk scarring the caudex by trying to remove it.  Live and let live.

 

 

i love this cycad of yours tracy just because of its robustness and longi have a beautiful geometric stacked arch that can't be beat.  thats weird how it pupped aerially.  i know that is a familiar trait with cycas but i have never personally seen this in encephalartos.  

[realarch]

On 6/27/2024 at 2:25 PM, Tracy said:

I finished trimming these Cycas thouarsii just in time to make space for a few new flushes.

Tracy, just stunning. What an exotic look…fantastic job.

Tim

[tinman10101]

I don't have many cycads in my yard but this one is my bluest of my blues.  It just contrast so well with the greenery around it.  

[Gallop]

 A few plants in the garden

[Brian]

Some new flushes pushing out.

 

[GeneAZ]

On 6/28/2024 at 10:43 AM, Tracy said:

I was actually a little disappointed to find this flush.  My chunky monkey Encephalartos longifolius has never put out any pups... until now.  I would have been fine with a subterranean pup that I could remove.  No such luck.  I prefer the clean aesthetic that it has without this pup, but won't risk scarring the caudex by trying to remove it.  Live and let live.

I have several that do that, too.  You can minimize the development of the caudex by cutting all the leaves off the branch as soon as they emerge as they have.  I think it's better to have these bare knobs on the trunk than the scars from removal.

[Tracy]

On 6/28/2024 at 10:53 AM, tinman10101 said:

i love this cycad of yours tracy just because of its robustness and longi have a beautiful geometric stacked arch that can't be beat.  thats weird how it pupped aerially.  i know that is a familiar trait with cycas but i have never personally seen this in encephalartos.  

This beast of a boy has nobs growing off like the one pictured in several places including the other side of the main caudex plus the normal base emerging pups.  I got this as Encephalartos arenarius x woodii but the woodii portion has come into some question (possibly natalensis?)  Leaflet shape and leaf length on this are significantly different from an Encephalartos natalensis x arenarius, which has always given me a glimmer that the original id was correct.  So it wasn't a big surprise to me.  Gene mentioned in his post how he treats them by trimming the foliage off.

Back to new flushes with this baby cycad.  It's the child of one of my Cycads now on its third round of flushing.  Leaflets are starting to show more interest on it!

[Tracy]

Encephalartos longifolius x horridus hybrid I got a long time ago as an offset pup.  I kept it in a pot for a long time, planted it in a bad spot, dug it up and moved it to its current home a few years back.  Lots of setbacks so it has been a slow grower for its age.  Hopefully it has found its forever home and will keep pumping out flushes. 

Meanwhile, progress on the Encephalartos horridus "Steytlerville" form flushing its main caudex now.  Pups flushed first on this one this year.

[Brian]

A baby iguana enjoying a flush on an Encephalartos laurentianus. Time of year we get a lot of baby iguanas hatching. It’s pretty cool to see their bright green silhouette in the garden. Hanging out in an Encephalartos probably gives them good protection from any predators. 

 

[Tracy]

Independence day fireworks?  More like a dud.  I never pollinated this cone.  I had two caudices with cones last winter on this Encephalartos lehmannii and only pollinated the first when it was receptive.  The other caudex dropped the cone earlier and is flushing now.  This caudex is going to cone again this year and at least initially skip flushing.

Plenty of time to contemplate if I will use a male from my own garden from another species or get some lehmannii pollen elsewhere this winter.  Three male cones on my largest longifolius are pushing out right now.

[Merlyn]

@Brian I think your cycad is a Whitelockii, Ituriensis, or Equatorialis.  I had an unidentified large green one a few years ago, and I was told that a key feature of Laurentianus is the sort of "corkscrew" shape to the new flush.  Laurentianus always has the new leaflets cross the center axis.  See the below picture with the shape of the new leaf circled:

An earlier picture shows the odd corkscrew too:

The straight "V" shape is typical for the Whitelockii group. 

[Brian]

@Merlyn Interesting observation, thanks. Next time it flushes I’m going to look for that corkscrew shape. I got the seeds from a reliable forum member back in 2010 but the seeds could have got mixed up. I actually got Laurentianus, Whitelockii and Ituriensis from this forum member around the same time. The Ituriensis never germinated, bought again and still didn't germinate. Both the Laurentianus and Whitelockii germinated and have been in the ground for about 8 years. What I had labeled and assumed is Laurentianus had a distinct look and is way more robust. The leafs remain in a vertical straight like position. 

 

What I had labeled and assumed was Whitelockii has shorter, not so straight leafs with longer leaflets that have a curved look. 

One of its pups is flushing

The more I look at photos on the internet of the two the more your observations make sense at least for what I assumed was Laurentianus.

I also have Equatorialis but they were germinated around 2017 and are much smaller and still in pots.

[Merlyn]

@Brian okay that makes sense, I'd guess you just have the IDs backwards.  The pictures 2 and 3 are the Laurentianus, which usually have arched fronds and kinda "ruffled" looking.  You can tell the leaflets are very cupped and have a more rounded tip with a pitchfork end of thorns.  Laurentianus grows a LOT slower for me, mostly because they are a few degrees less hardy to frost and cold.  They reliably defoliate or take severe burn every winter in the upper 20s.  They also always start a flush around Thanksgiving and then get damaged by the first December cold front.  You can see the ruffled and heavily cupped leaves here starting around photo 4: https://www.agaveville.org/viewtopic.php?t=1607

This is my 2nd largest Laurentianus, with a new flush mostly finished (to keep things on topic!):

And here is a detail on a leaf flush, showing the crossed leaflets:

Whitelockii/Ituriensis are so close to me that I can't reliably tell them apart, I have to count thorns to get a ballpark guess.  For me those two always grow bigger and faster with straight fronds and mostly flat (not as cupped) leaflets.  Lots of good Whitelockii photos here with super-straight fronds: https://www.agaveville.org/viewtopic.php?t=2817

This one I've tentatively labeled as Ituriensis, with about 12-14 thorns per leaflet.  It's the same age as the Laurentianus, both purchased from ChuckG about 5 years ago.  It's almost trunking now, and the Laurentianus is still growing in diameter very slowly.

[Brian]

3 hours ago, Merlyn said:

This one I've tentatively labeled as Ituriensis, with about 12-14 thorns per leaflet.

I always appreciate any feedback, thanks. On the new flush I counted between 6-8 thorns per leaflet 

Here are a few more flushes around the yard.

E. Feroz

D. Spinulosum

 

Labeled as Encephalartos natalensis “vryheid”

Labeled as Encephalartos mackenziei

 

Unfortunately this Encephalartos was never labeled. 

[Billeb]

11 hours ago, Brian said:

Unfortunately this Encephalartos was never labeled. 

It looks like it could be in the Manikensis complex like Munchii but those leafs aren’t typically recurved but straight rather. Is it possibly a hybrid? 
 

Either way, looks healthy. 👍🏻
 

-dale 

[Billeb]

I’ve got an Arenarius Blue that has about a 4” caudex and just started pushing 6 fronds. 

And this little Enc Horridus x (Arenarius x Woodii) finally decided it likes the weather. 
 

 

-dale

[Tracy]

On 7/5/2024 at 6:15 PM, Brian said:

I actually got Laurentianus, Whitelockii and Ituriensis from this forum member around the same time.

Encephalartos laruentianus will have the longest leaves of the group.  They are vigorous growers too.  I'm not growing pure Encephalartos whitelockii, but have a couple of hybrids with sclavoi, which changes the leaflets as well as the overall length of the leaves.  I also have a couple of Encephalartos ituriensis, and for caudex size have no where near as long of leaflets as my Encephalartos laurentianus had at the same size.  Leaves on Encephalartos laurentianus are very upright and straight until they get pushed down by a new flush or emerging cones.  Female Encephalartos cones and both my E lauriantus and one in a garden on the Big Island east side.  My wife for scale in Hawaii.  The next photo is a flush from a couple of years ago on mine after I cut off the previous flush showing how erect they are.  I'll see if I can get a clean shot of it today holding two flushes and no cones.

[Brian]

15 hours ago, Billeb said:

It looks like it could be in the Manikensis complex like Munchii but those leafs aren’t typically recurved but straight rather. Is it possibly a hybrid? 
 

Either way, looks healthy. 👍🏻
 

-dale 

Thanks Dale, it’s done well in this climate. I got seeds back in 2009 from a forum member for 4 species hilderbandtii, ferox, manikensis and gratus. I’m pretty sure the unlabeled Encephalartos came from that seed batch. I wouldn’t expect these seeds to be hybrids but it’s possible. 

[Peter]

Ferox

[Manalto]

It's too early to tell how many fronds there will be (I'm rooting for six), but I'm pleased to report a second flush this year on my hybrid from North Texas Cold Hardy.

Shoddy record-keeping has resulted in the loss of its identification (maybe debaoensis  X revoluta, with its bifid leaflets?) but it finally looks like it's about to double in size. Last winter's unusually-damaging conditions that killed outright many old Phoenix specimens knocked this one back from its lifetime maximum of five leaves to just one pathetic plume. Regular rains this spring and summer have probably helped stimulate this growth, and perhaps its position surrounded by a big bed of zinnias:

In any case, I'm eagerly anticipating this event. Do I dare hope for a third flush before summer's end?

[Merlyn]

@Manalto I bought Rev x Deb as well as Panzihuaensis x Debaoensis from TCHP about 4 years ago.  They look very similar, so trying to tell them apart is somewhat difficult.

[Manalto]

2 hours ago, Merlyn said:

@Manalto I bought Rev x Deb as well as Panzihuaensis x Debaoensis from TCHP about 4 years ago.  They look very similar, so trying to tell them apart is somewhat difficult.

Did they take off right away or was it a while before they got established? Mine seems slow to get started, slower than 100% Rev.

[Merlyn]

1 hour ago, Manalto said:

Did they take off right away or was it a while before they got established? Mine seems slow to get started, slower than 100% Rev.

I'd say a bit slower to gain size, but they were pushing 3-10 fronds at a time pretty quick.  My Deb (or Multifrondis) generally are only 1 or 2 fronds at a time, but physically much bigger.  As a guesstimate I'd think the "total vegetative mass" of both were growing at a similar rate, just the Deb looked bigger because the fronds were longer and more plumose.

[Manalto]

I count 7! That more than doubles the existing number (5) of fronds, according to some sophisticated mathematical calculations.

I've had flushes appear and suddenly shrivel on my C. debaoensis, so I'm wondering if there is anything I can do for this cycad to ensure all seven will thrive and reach their full potential? Water regularly? Fertilize? Play Bach?

Be prepared: there will probably be more photos. Can't resist - it's been a long wait.

 

[Fusca]

11 hours ago, Manalto said:

Can't resist - it's been a long wait.

Last week my C. revoluta flushed for the first time since summer of 2021!  Apparently it didn't like going down to 9°F and then being dug out and moved the following summer.  Before it would flush 2 to 3 times a year.

 

[Manalto]

15 hours ago, Fusca said:

Last week my C. revoluta flushed for the first time since summer of 2021!  Apparently it didn't like going down to 9°F and then being dug out and moved the following summer.  Before it would flush 2 to 3 times a year.

 

Looks like a good healthy flush, too. Sago is a tough critter.  I have had them dug up and neglected for several weeks and then grow just fine when properly planted. They seem to wait it out until conditions are right or, as in your case, pout for a while after perceived mistreatment. 

[Brian]

It’s always nice when Zamia splendens start flushing.

 

[Manalto]

So dramatic!

[Brian]

These are far from the big spectacular flushes that members normally post but it is a huge milestone for me.
Around 7 years ago I managed to get some seeds from the E. Poggei complex. Now after dealing with meager one leaf flushes for like 7 years,  I’m finally starting to get two leaf flushes and I can actually see them start to grow. Also, during the first 7 years, the one leaf flush would quickly fall over and die off several months before the next flush so the plants never looked good and most of the time looked dead. A few of these plants have flushed recently and are starting to look better.
E. marunguensis with two leaf flush

E. schmitzii also started putting out two leaf flushes

 E. schaijesii 

E. delucanus still on one leaf flush but looking more robust. Next flush will probably be two leafs.

Here is an overview shot showing some of the new flushes from plants within this complex. 

[Tracy]

A time series of an Encephalartos sclavoi with a colorful flush.  Look what is poking out along with the flush in the last photo like 3 eggs in a nest.  Boy... a neat surprise to get both of these happening at once.

[-2 brian]

I have a encepholartus longifolius that has got its first cone about a year ago. It is finally gotten to the point that all of the sections are falling away exposing the bright red seed. 

[Brian]

Encephalartos transvenosus x horridus flushing

 

 

[Manalto]

Not 7, but 8 new leaves! A 160% percent increase. Woo-hoo!

[Tracy]

Attached is another flush sequence, this time on a plant I got as a 2 leaf seedling labeled as an Encephalartos (arenarius x horridus) x latifrons.  I'm not so sure about it being exactly as labeled, but it does look different to me than my true Encephalartos arenarius.  The presence of some horridus seems right as some flushes show more blue than others and this latest flush may still develop more color than it shows in the last photo of the sequence (most recent).  The leaflets on my other Encephalartos arenarius tend to be longer and not as wide further down the rachis as this hybrid specimen shows.

The flushes continue showing longer leaves (not leaflets), so it is still maturing and hasn't coned yet either.  Any thoughts on whether this could be as labeled or just another form of E. arenarius than my others?

[Brian]

27 minutes ago, Tracy said:

Attached is another flush sequence, this time on a plant I got as a 2 leaf seedling labeled as an Encephalartos (arenarius x horridus) x latifrons.  I'm not so sure about it being exactly as labeled, but it does look different to me than my true Encephalartos arenarius.  The presence of some horridus seems right as some flushes show more blue than others and this latest flush may still develop more color than it shows in the last photo of the sequence (most recent).  The leaflets on my other Encephalartos arenarius tend to be longer and not as wide further down the rachis as this hybrid specimen shows.

The flushes continue showing longer leaves (not leaflets), so it is still maturing and hasn't coned yet either.  Any thoughts on whether this could be as labeled or just another form of E. arenarius than my others?

Beautiful flush! Does it have small hairs or fuzz on the newly harden off leafs? Kind of like this,

 

[Brian]

Since I germinated this seed its had two growing points which has turned into two equally sized codices (?) on this Encephalartos arenarius. One of the caudex flushed last month, now the other caudex is flushing.