CYCAS DEBAOENSIS SUPER RARE, MULTIPINNATE, SMALL CAUDEX, LONG LEAVES

In my opinion, this is one of the most desirable cycad species introduced in the past several decades. It was formally described in 1996. Native to China, it is a plant with a rather small caudex, typically under a foot in size, but with long leaves that stretch upwards and will divide to the third order. Some argue that it’s just “bi-pinnate”, but if you research pictures of the leaves, there is a small stem leading to two or three leaflets. Therefore, I consider it to be “tri-pinnate”. In other words, the main stem will fork and that branch will fork again, this last stem holding the leaflets.. The Caryota palm divides to the second order and is considered to be multipinate as well. With this branching, this species produces a very tropical and exotic appearing leaf.

It typically will hold two to four leaves, but has been reported to hold as many as ten leaves. Length of these can reach ten feet. They tend to go straight upwards, flexing down over time. Cycas debaoensis prefers filtered light and is cold hardy to the lower 20’s F. For the first time in a few decades, we are offering seedlings for sale. These were domestically produced and definitely the real thing. I’ve shown other plants of this species before, but such a beautiful plant cannot be shown too many times. At nurseries, this is considered super rare and is always hard to find.

These would be easy to mail order.