The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Encephalartos lebomboensis
Also called Piet Retief Cycad, Isigqiki Somkhovu
Encephalartos lebomboensis is a rare, endangered cycad shrub from the Lebombo Mountains of southern Africa, with a short trunk and a crown of stiff, glossy pinnate leaves. It needs full sun, good drainage, and protection from frost, and it is not widely grown outside specialist collections.
Encephalartos lebomboensis is a species of cycad in the family Zamiaceae. Native to the Lebombo Mountains of South Africa, the species was first described in 1949 by the South African botanist Inez Verdoorn. It is commonly known as the Lebombo cycad, although the name is also used for Encephalartos senticosus which also occurs in the same locality.
Encephalartos lebomboensis has two separate populations, one in the vicinity of Mananga in Mpumalanga province in South Africa and a southern population centred on Piet Retiefion in the upper Pongola River Valley. It is a very rare and endangered species and grows in sunny positions on cliffs and steep, rocky slopes among sparse vegetation. This region has hot, fairly wet summers and cool, dry winters with frequent mists. It is also native to Mozambique and Eswatini.
Cycad · Eastern Cape giant cycad · Cycad · Alexandria cycad · Cycad · Escarpment cycad · Lake Natron Cycad · Cycad · Chimanimani cycad · Runde cycad · Cycad · Winterberg Cycad
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Encephalartos lebomboensis 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.
