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Encephalartos villosus
Also called Poor Man's Cycad
Encephalartos villosus is a dwarf South African cycad with a mostly underground trunk, so only the woolly crown of leaves shows above ground. It is grown mainly for its hairy, shrub-like form and is easy to find in Southern African nurseries.
Encephalartos villosus is a South African cycad occurring from the East London vicinity, where it is found near the coast, to the northern border of Eswatini (Swaziland) where it may grow as far as 100 km inland. The species is common throughout its range and is the most frequently cultivated in Southern Africa, largely because of its affordable price. As a result of its large geographical distribution, it is notably variable in leaf and cone shape.
The preferred habitat of this species is frost-free coastal bush. It hybridises readily with Encephalartos altensteinii in the Eastern Cape and with Encephalartos lebomboensis in the Pongola area.
Eastern Cape giant cycad · Zululand cycad · Eastern Cape blue cycad · Wood's cycad
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Encephalartos villosus 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.
