Female cones of Encaphalartos altensteinii, the Eastern Cape Giant Cycad, family Zamiaceae. The Giant Cycad is widely distributed in coastal regions o

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Female cones of Encaphalartos altensteinii, the Eastern Cape Giant Cycad, family Zamiaceae. The Giant Cycad is widely distributed in coastal regions of the Eastern Cape (South Africa ). Present day cycads are survivors of a group dating back 300 million years ( the Devonian period ). Most families died out during the Cretaceous period, 80 million years ago. Cycads are of great evolutionary interest due to their reproductive system, considered to be the forerunner of flowering plants. E. altensteinii is a long lived; a specimen at Kew Gardens, London, UK, collected in South Africa and brought to England in 1775 by Francis Masson, is now over 4m tall. It is one of the oldest pot plants in the world. The picture shows a much younger plant, about 80cm tall, growing in open ground in a garden in Melbourne Australia.

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Size: 5120px × 3413px
Photo credit: © DR JEREMY BURGESS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: altensteinii, biological, biology, botanical, botany, cone, cretaceous, cycad, devonian, encephalartos, evolution, flowering, francis, gardens, giant, kew, masson, oldest, plant, plants, pot, zamiaceae