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Cycas micronesica
Also called Federico Nut, Micronesian Cycad
Cycas micronesica is a palm-like cycad, usually 2 to 5 m tall (up to about 15 m), native to Micronesian islands such as Guam, Rota, Yap and Palau. It is grown as a slow-growing ornamental in warm, frost-free climates and its key care points are full sun, well-drained soil and infrequent watering.
Cycas micronesica is a species of cycad found on the island of Yap in Micronesia, the Mariana islands of Guam and Rota, and The Republic of Palau. It is commonly known as federico nut or fadang in Chamorro. The species, previously lumped with Cycas rumphii and Cycas circinalis, was described as a unique species in 1994 by Ken Hill. Paleoecological studies have determined that Cycas micronesica has been present on the island of Guam for about 9,000 years. It has been implicated as a factor in Lytico-Bodig disease, a condition similar to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), due to the presence of the neurotoxin BMAA found in its seeds. Seeds were a traditional food source on Guam until the 1960s. The neurotoxin is present due to a symbiosis with cyanobacteria.
Cycad seeds contain Β-Methylamino-L-alanine, a non-proteinogenic amino acid and neurotoxin. Chronic dietary exposure to BMAA is now considered to be a cause of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/parkinsonism–dementia complex (ALS/PDC) that had an extremely high rate of incidence among the Chamorro people of Guam. The Chamorro call the condition lytico-bodig. In the 1950s, ALS/PDC prevalence ratios and death rates for Chamorro residents of Guam and Rota were 50–100 times that of developed countries, including the United States. No demonstrable heritable or viral factors were found for the disease, and a subsequent decline of ALS/PDC after 1963 on Guam led to the search for responsible environmental agents. The use of flour made from cycad seed ) in traditional food items decreased as that plant became rarer and the Chamorro population became more Americanized following World War II. Cycads harbor symbiotic cyanobacteria of the genus Nostoc in specialized roots which push up through the leaf litter into the light; these cyanobacteria produce BMAA.
Cycas aculeata · Cycas aenigma · Cycas angulata · Cycas annaikalensis · Cycad · Cycas arenicola · Zamia Palm · Cycas arnhemica · Cycas badensis · Cycad · Cycas basaltica · Beddome’s Cycas
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cycas micronesica by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
