Close-up capture of Cycas revoluta
Close-up capture of the early female flower developing on a Cycas revoluta tree. This Cycad is also known as the Sago Palm. It is growing in the grounds of the Belmont Hills Golf course, Warwick Parish, Bermuda. This plant is extremely poisonous to animals (this includes humans) if ingested! Cycads, are seed plants typically characterized by a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard and stiff, evergreen leaves. They usually have pinnate leaves. The individual plants are either all male or all female (dioecious). Cycads vary in size from having a trunk that is only a few centimeters tall to trunks up to several meters tall. They typically grow very slowly and live very long, with some specimens known to be as much as 1,000 years old. Because of their superficial resemblance, they are sometimes confused with and mistaken for palms or ferns, but are only distantly related to either. Cycads belong to the biological division Cycadophyta. There are three extant families of cycads, Cycadaceae, Stangeriaceae, and Zamiaceae. Though they are a minor component of the plant kingdom today, during the Jurassic period they were extremely common. They have changed little since the Jurassic, compared to some major evolutionary changes in other plant divisions.
Size: 4064px × 2704px
Location: Belmont Hills Golf Course, Warwick Parish, Bermuda
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: botanical, botany, close, close-, cycad, cycadophyta, developing, early, flower, fronds, fruits, gymnosperms, nature, plant, poisonous, seed, toxic, toxicity
