OTHER CYCAD FEATURES
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ENCEPHALARTOS LANATUS
Locality:
This species comes from the Gauteng and
Mpumalanga regions of South Africa. Their native landscape
ranges from semi-open woodlands to an exposed rocky (sandstone)
desert-like habitat.
Plant Size:
This is a small to medium sized
species. Encephalartos lanatus have short leaves
that scarcely exceed a meter. Their stems can reach about
a meter and half in a few centuries. Plants are almost
always solitary, but they can occasionally produce basal suckers
(very rare and very few).
Other Characteristics:
The name 'lanatus' is derived
from the Latin word meaning "wooly". The petioles, newly
emerging leaves and cones are all 'wooly'. Which is why
this plant is also know as the "Wooly Encephalartos".
The leaves on this species emerge a pale green with a thick
wool-like tomentum (plant hair). They are a pale green
when they first emerge. As the leaves age, they transition
to a powdery silver/white color. The leaflets and petioles
on this species are unarmed and are mildly pokey. Both the
male and female cones are yellowish tan color.
Culture: This
species has to have soil that drains very well. It also
need to be in sun for coastal and inland areas. If you
plant it in the shade, it will slowly die. For desert
areas, sun is a possibility but you can grow them in partial sun
to filtered light.
Landscape Usage:
This species can work in almost any
application as long as you provide sun and drainage. They
will work well along the foreground of a planting and should
really be a focal point as there are few plants that get as
pretty as this species when its happy!
Availability: We
typically have some E. lanatus available but never a
huge supply of them. Although we've had them before, it's
rare to find huge specimen plants. This is because they
dig poorly and typically have to be grown from seeds. As
they are slow growing, one can imagine how many years it takes
to get a potted specimen plant. The sizes from
seedlings to 5 gallon size are easily mail ordered.
Pricing:
Encephalartos lanatus is a rare species and therefore a
bit pricey. We usually have some small to medium sizes
available.
Examples of usual sizes that are available with prices are listed below.
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