ENCEPHALARTOS LEHMANNII RARE BLUE SOUTH AFRICAN CYCAD FOR FULL COASTAL SUN

A FAVORITE AMONG CYCAD ENTHUSIASTS
GOOD STARTER SIZE FOR CYCAD ENTHUSIAST

This is a popular blue cycad from the Eastern Cape area of South Africa. I say “popular” because some people don’t like spines and prickles. The leaflets of this species are narrow with only a point at the end. They are nothing as gnarly as E. horridus. The leaves and crown are very neat and uniform. The nearest species to this one is Encephalartos princeps. Trunks of E. lehmannii can get to five feet, but one with two to three feet of trunk is very old. Leaves average about four feet long and are strongly curled. Sometimes they’ll almost do a 180 or more degree re-curve. Leaf color is intensely blue like E. horridus. But, you’ll only see this color with full, hot sun. In shade or inside a greenhouse they are often green because they are not getting full sun and have lots of humidity. Cold hardiness is about 21 to 22 degrees F. In the desert only give it a few hours sun.

Shown below are E. lehmannii that were put into 5 gallon pots over a year ago. It has about five leaves showing the blue color. Caudex size in 2.5 inches. Age from germination 5 to 6 years. Plans this size can remain in their containers for 2 to 3 more years. Easy to mail order. We do have larger sizes of 5 gallon not on sale currently. This size is easy to mail order.

The third row of photos shows other garden specimens of this species. We have several of this species at this size and obviously smaller plants up to coning sized specimens.