Cycas sp. Silver pics

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

I have about one hundred seedlings of this species and noticed that one has white emergent leaves right from the start.  From what i read this usually takes a few years for them to exhibit this color of flush.  

[SailorBold]

That's cool !  Do you think its variegated ?

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

20 hours ago, SailorBold said:

That's cool !  Do you think its variegated ?

No this is what they look like

 

[tropicbreeze]

Do you know which species it is? There are a number of Cycas species that are "silver".

[Tracy]

6 hours ago, tropicbreeze said:

Do you know which species it is? There are a number of Cycas species that are "silver".

Good question.  I was looking at the way that it holds the leaves, with the lower ones showing a little upward arch.  Hopefully the overall shape/structure of the adult plant will help in narrowing down the species.  I would add to your question, are there any close ups of the actual leaflets of an adult plant?  Unfortunately with this color you almost have to underexpose the shot to better see detail, as the variation in the white/silver is so subtle that it is easy to lose detail. 

[XYZ]

This used to be considered an ecotype of C. siamensis, but unaware of its current taxonomic status.

A friend with a commercial ornamentals nursery and I grew quite a few of these in Guatemala. They are, IME, very tricky as seedlings through about the five year mark and require careful watering during their irregular dormancy. I don't believe the "silver" evident in some pics of wild shots is evident until they've got quite a bit of size on them and then, only after a new flush. If you look around, you may find that there are easier grown blue-silver Thai and Oz Cycas spp., athough seed is quite a bit higher priced than for this. I think that there is a reason that you don't really see too many (any?) larger examples of this sp. for sale outside of origin.

The white leafed seedling looks like an albino, a not uncommon occurrence when you germinate enough seed. If you don't get a normal-colored or variegated leaf after this one, it's done.

Good luck,

J

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Tracy and Stone Jaguar are spot on.  I wanted to upload another picture of the backside to show that there is green on the rachis.  Is this consistent with albino cycads?

[XYZ]

Yes and no. You could have a variegated plant, since pure albinos often have white or yellowish petioles and primary veins. See attached image of some fully albino Chamaedorea nubium I germinated about a decade ago.

You probably know that this species spends much of the year as a leafless caudex. Really watch the watering when it's dormant.

 

J

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

I have heard how difficult they are and plan to winter them with the small greenhouse Encephalartos, which typically go 2-3 months without water when the temps are down. I hope that does the trick.

[XYZ]

Would find a warm spot for them when leafless This is a fully tropical Cycas sp. from seasonally dry tropical forest.

J

[tropicbreeze]

On 02/08/2016, 11:14:12, Tracy said:

Good question.  I was looking at the way that it holds the leaves, with the lower ones showing a little upward arch.  Hopefully the overall shape/structure of the adult plant will help in narrowing down the species.  I would add to your question, are there any close ups of the actual leaflets of an adult plant?  Unfortunately with this color you almost have to underexpose the shot to better see detail, as the variation in the white/silver is so subtle that it is easy to lose detail. 

I have a lot of close up photos of Cycas calcicola leaflets, but this plant is apparently an Asian species.