CYCADACEAE
Morphological description
Trees or shrubs, resinous; usually unbranched.
Leaves
Leaves pinnately compound, spiral, crowded, exstipulate.
Inflorescence
Inflorescence dioecious, strobili terminal, males in a cone, females solitary in clusters.
Different from: Palmae: not resinous, true flowers.
Distribution: In Malesia the family, consisting of only one paleotropical genus, Cycas, occurs mostly in lowland rain forest, also coastal and on limestone.
Notes: Some species are planted as ornamentals; seeds of some species are edible.
Literature: R. Pilger in Engler & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. ed. 2, 13 (1926) 44-82; K.D. Hill, Austral. Syst. Bot. 7 (1994) 543-567. — Dr. D.J. de Laubenfels (Syracuse, USA) is revising the family for Flora Malesiana.
Spot characters (Van Balgooy): Cycadaceae Schopfbaume (p.p.), armed plants (p.p.), resinous exudate; Epicycas swollen stems, Schopfbaume.
Illustrations: Fig. 47. Cycas rumphii Miq., showing seed-bearing carpel, habit and male cone (Courtesy Prof. & Mrs. H. Keng).
Image in PhytoImages for Cycadaceae