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Cycas thouarsii
Also called Madagascar sago
Cycas thouarsii, the Madagascar cycad, is an evergreen arborescent cycad in the genus Cycas. It is named after the French botanist Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars (1758—1831).
As a relatively fast-growing cycad, Cycas thouarsii is occasionally grown in horticulture as a specimen plant. It requires moist but well-drained soil, and will tolerate shade, partial shade, and sun (with sufficient humidity). It is hardy to only a very light frost but can tolerate brief exposure to temperatures down to −3.9 °C (25 °F - USDA hardiness zone 9b) but this results in leaf scorching.
The Madagascar cycad is found on Madagascar and the nearby islands of Comoros, Mayotte and the Seychelles. It is also found along the coasts of Kenya, Mozambique, and Tanzania. According to de Laubenfels and Adema, the plant is also found in Sri Lanka, but this may be confusion with the closely related Cycas circinalis. The tree grows 200 meters above sea level, in light forests and their borders, or near coastal sites on sandy soil or coral formations. These areas have annual precipitations varying from 1000 to 3000 millimeters per year.
Although toxic, the seeds are eaten on the Comorian island of Ngazidja, particularly in the regions of Hamahame and Washili, where the plant, known as ntsambu, has cultural significance. The cyanotoxins are removed from the seeds by a process of repeated washing, fermentation and drying, which renders them edible.
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 thouarsii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
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.
