Cycas

Cycas
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Gymnospermae
Class:	Cycadopsida
Order:	Cycadales
Family:	Cycadaceae Pers.
Genus:	Cycas L.
Type species
C. circinalis L.
Synonyms
Todda-pana Adans. Dyerocycas Nakai Epicycas de Laub.

Cycas is the type genus and the only genus recognised in the family Cycadaceae. About 113 species are accepted [1] . Cycas circinalis, a species endemic to India was the first cycad species to be described and was the type of the generic name, Cycas. The best-known Cycas species is Cycas revoluta. The Cycas is a very ancient genus of trees. The group achieved its maximum diversity in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, when it was distributed almost worldwide. At the end of the Cretaceous, when the non-avian dinosaurs became extinct, so did most of the cycas in the Northern Hemisphere.

The genus is native to the Old World, with the species concentrated around the equatorial regions - eastern and southeastern Asia including the Philippines with 10 species (9 of which are endemic), eastern Africa (including Madagascar), northern Australia, Polynesia, and Micronesia. Australia has 26 species, while the Indo-Chinese area has about 30. India has 9 species. The northernmost species (C. revoluta) is found at 31°N in southern Japan. The southernmost (C. megacarpa) is found at 26°S in southeast Queensland. Due to the occurrence of large number of Cycas species in China and Australia, both the countries are considered as two centres of diversity of Cycas.

A male cone of Cycas orixensis with unique forked microsporophylls

File:Rumphii1562.jpg

Bark of Cycas rumphii

The plants are dioecious, and the family Cycadaceae is unique among the cycads in not forming seed cones on female plants, but rather a group of leaf-like structures called megasporophylls each with seeds on the lower margins, and pollen cones or strobilus on male individuals.

Cycas media megasporophylls with nearly-mature seeds on a wild plant in north Queensland, Australia

Grove of Cycas media in north Queensland

Cycas platyphylla in north Queensland with new flush of fronds during the rainy season, still with glaucous bloom

The caudex is cylindrical, surrounded by the persistent petiole base. Most species form distinct branched or unbranched trunks but in some species the main trunk can be subterranean with the leaf crown appearing to arise directly from the ground. There are two types of leaves - foliage leaves and scaly leaves. The foliage leaves are pinnate (or more rarely bipinnate) and arranged spirally, with thick and hard keratinose. They are not permanent and fall off leaving back leaf-bases. The leaflets are articulated, have midrib but lack secondary veins. The scaly leaves are persistent, brown in colour and protective in function. Megasporophylls are not gathered in cones. Pollination takes place by air.

Often considered a living fossil, the earliest fossils of the genus Cycas appear in the Cenozoic although Cycas-like fossils that may belong to Cycadaceae extend well into the Mesozoic. Cycas is not closely related to other genera of cycads, and phylogenetic studies have shown that Cycadaceae is the sister-group to all other extant cycads.

The plant takes several years to grow, sexual reproduction takes place after 10 years of exclusive vegetative growth which occurs by bulbils arising at the base of the trunk.

A male cone of Cycas circinalis

Cycas species are threatened worldwide and almost all the species are listed in IUCN Redlist. Cycas beddomei is the only species of the genus Cycas listed in Appendix I of CITES. Cycas rumphii and Cycas pectinata have the most widespread distribution.

Selected species

Cycas aculeata Cycas angulata Cycas annaikalensis Cycas apoa Cycas arenicola Cycas armstrongii Cycas arnhemica Cycas badensis Cycas balansae Cycas basaltica Cycas beddomei Cycas bifida Cycas bougainvilleana Cycas brachycantha Cycas brunnea Cycas cairnsiana Cycas calcicola Cycas campestris Cycas candida Cycas canalis Cycas chamaoensis Cycas changjiangensis Cycas chevalieri Cycas circinalis Cycas clivicola Cycas collina Cycas condaoensis Cycas conferta Cycas couttsiana Cycas curranii Cycas debaoensis Cycas desolata Cycas diannanensis

Cycas dolichophylla Cycas edentata Cycas elephantipes Cycas elongata Cycas falcata Cycas fairylakea Cycas ferruginea Cycas fugax Cycas furfuracea Cycas guizhouensis Cycas hainanensis Cycas hoabinhensis Cycas hongheensis Cycas inermis Cycas javana Cycas lanepoolei Cycas lindstromii Cycas litoralis Cycas maconochiei Cycas macrocarpa Cycas media Cycas megacarpa Cycas micholitzii Cycas micronesica Cycas multipinnata Cycas nathorstii Cycas nayagarhensis Cycas nongnoochiae Cycas ophiolitica Cycas orientis Cycas orixensis Cycas pachypoda Cycas panzhihuaensis Cycas papuana

Cycas pectinata Cycas petraea Cycas platyphylla Cycas pranburiensis Cycas pruinosa Cycas revoluta Cycas riuminiana Cycas rumphii Miq. Cycas schumanniana Cycas scratchleyana Cycas seemannii A.Braun Cycas segmentifida Cycas semota Cycas sexseminifera Cycas siamensis Cycas silvestris Cycas simplicipinna Cycas sphaerica Cycas szechuanensis Cycas taitungensis Cycas taiwaniana Cycas tanqingii Cycas tansachana Cycas thouarsii Cycas tropophylla Cycas tuckeri Cycas wadei Cycas xipholepis Cycas yorkiana Cycas yunnanensis Cycas zambalensis Cycas zeylanica

References and external links

• David J. de Laubenfels & F. Adema (1998) "A taxonomic revision of the genera Cycas and Epicycas Gen. Nov. (Cycadaceae)", Blumea 43()351-400.
• Hill, K.D.(1998–2004) The Cycad Pages, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/PlantNet/cycad/index.html
• Virtual Cycad Encyclopedia edited by the Palm & Cycad Societies of Florida
• David, J. de Laubenfels, Cycas Taxonomy
• Hill, K.D., Dennis W. Stevenson & Roy Osborne (2004) "The World List of Cycads". The Botanical Review, 70(2)274–298 doi:10.1663/0006-8101(2004)070%5B0274:TWLOC%5D2.0.CO;2
• Lindstrom, Anders J. and Ken D. Hill (2007) "The genus Cycas (Cycadaceae) in India". Telopea 11(4) : 463-488.
• Singh, R & JS Khuraijam (2013-) Cycads of India. http://www.cycadsofindia.in/
• Singh, R., P. Radha & J.S. Khuraijam. 2015. A new species, a new combination and a new subsection of Cycas from Odisha, northern Eastern Ghats of India. Asian Journal of Conservation Biology 4(1): 3-14
• Singh, R., & Radha P. (2006). Cycas annaikalensis, A new species of Cycas from the Malabar Coast, Western Ghats, India. Brittonia 58 (2): 119-123.
• Terrence Walters & Roy Osborne (eds.) (2004), Cycad Classification: Concepts and Recommendations, CABI publishing, ISBN 0-85199-741-4