CYCAS REVOLUTA - THE SAGO PALM MOST POPULAR CYCAD IN THE WORLD

Cycas revoluta, the common “Sago Palm”, is native to areas of Japan and China. It is an extremely easy to grow cycad that requires little maintenance. It is also slow growing with fifty year old specimens attaining a trunk height of five feet or a bit more. Leaves are green as shown below, typically five feet long on older plants and have barbs on the stems. Leaflets are “revolute” – cupped on the underside. Stems can be twelve to sixteen feet thick in decades. Male and female cones are quite different, as with all species of this genus. Male cones look like a corn cob without the kernels. Females are a scrambled clump of “tan leaflets” without any emerging structure. You need both sexes to get viable seeds. I’d estimate that there are well over a million plants of this species in gardens worldwide. It tolerates full sun in coastal areas but not in desert climates (where it needs sun protection). Cold tolerance is perhaps as low as 16 degrees F – certainly into the high teens. It can also be grown as a houseplant when smaller and is ideal for a patio plant.

We have a reasonable assortment of 15gallon sized plants that came from a private garden. We were told that they were at least 20 years old. Some are larger than others. The 15g plant shown below has a caudex that is about 12 inches tall or so. The height of the trunk shows you these ages. These are sun grown outdoors. We’re putting this size on Ten Day Special. These plants were dug and potted up over two years ago. All are sturdy and healthy cycads.

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