Our cycad is putting out a new crown of leaves this week.
Cycads were very common during the Jurassic period, and they have changed relatively little since that time.
More about cycads here.
. . . Only the antique cycads sullenly
keep the old bargain life has long since broken;
and, cursed by age, through each chill century
they watch the shrunken moon, but never die. . .— Judith Wright, from “The Cycads“
That cycad must have been in your garden for many years! A circle of leaves each year, and the trunk gets slowly taller.
He really is a beauty. I have some smaller ones in pots. I think I want to take the area near the “king”, remove the grass, and plant more cycads (and maybe ferns, etc.) — a “dinosaur food” area.
Those cycads are fantastic!
I grow cycads, I know they are not real friendly plants.
I can’t imagine that the dinos found them palatable. As slow as they grow, I can’t imagine they could replace foliage consumed by a hungry dino, either.
According to USGS.gov, non-carnivorous dinosaurs ate many plants, including “evergreen conifers (pine trees, redwoods, and their relatives), ferns, mosses, horsetail rushes, cycads, ginkos, and in the latter part of the dinosaur age flowering (fruiting) plants.” They did not eat grass, which hadn’t evolved yet.
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