Description: A slow-growing, palm-like cycad with a stout trunk and a crown of long, stiff, pinnate leaves. It is a gymnosperm and does not produce true flowers.

Identification: Cylindrical trunk; large arching fronds; narrow, stiff leaflets; separate male and female plants.

Habitat & distribution: Native to southern Japan and parts of southeastern China and Taiwan; widely cultivated as an ornamental plant in tropical and subtropical regions.

Uses / importance: Widely grown as an ornamental and landscape plant. It is also of horticultural and botanical importance as a representative cycad.

Taxonomy:
Kingdom – Plantae
Phylum – Streptophyta
Class – Equisetopsida
Subclass – Cycadidae
Order – Cycadales
Family – Cycadaceae
Genus – Cycas
Species – C. revoluta

Sources: Kew Plants of the World Online (POWO); IPNI; botanical literature.