cycad

The palmlike gymnosperm plants known as cycads have existed more or less unchanged for at least 200 million years. They are often referred to as living fossils. Each plant consists of an array of fronds growing from a single, stout trunk. There are ten living genera found mainly in tropical and subtropical regions. Cycads bear separate, conelike male and female reproductive structures.

Any of a group of plants belonging to the gymnosperms, whose seeds develop in cones. Some are superficially similar to palms, others to ferns. Their large cones (up to 0.5 m/1.6 ft in length) contain fleshy seeds. There are ten genera and about 80–100 species, native to tropical and subtropical countries. Cycads were widespread during the Mesozoic era (245–65 million years ago). (Order Cycadales.)

The stems of many species yield an edible starchy substance resembling sago. In 1993 cycads were discovered to be pollinated by insects, not by wind as had been previously thought; their cones produce heat that vaporizes a sweet minty odour to attract insects to a supply of nectarlike liquid.