ENCEPHALARTOS LANATUS SILVER BLUE SOUTH AFRICAN CYCAD

This species comes from the Gauteng and Mpumalanga regions of South Africa. It is a small to medium sized species. Encephalartos lanatus have short leaves that scarcely exceed a meter. Their stems can reach about a meter and half in a few centuries. Plants are almost always solitary, but they can occasionally produce basal suckers (very rare and very few). The name ‘lanatus’ is derived from the Latin word meaning “wooly”. The petioles, newly emerging leaves and cones are all ‘wooly’. The leaves on this species emerge a pale green with a thick wool-like tomentum (plant hair). They are a pale green when they first emerge. As the leaves age, they transition to a powdery silver/white color. The leaflets and petioles on this species are unarmed and are mildly pokey. The leaflets are thin. This species has to have soil that drains very well. It also need to be in sun for coastal and inland areas. If you plant it in the shade, it will slowly die. For desert areas, sun is a possibility but you can grow them in partial sun to filtered light. The second photo was ten in South Africa but an unknown a author who emailed it to me. The burnt trunks are from a fire.

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