Cycas multipinnata

Cycas multipinnata (or Epicycas multipinnata), common name Royal Sago, is a species of cycad of the Sago Palm Family (Cycadaceae) in southwestern China and northern Vietnam. It is noteworthy for four things: First it is one of the tuberous species which some taxonomists segregate as the genus Epicycas. Secondly, it has the longest leaf stalks (petioles) of any Gymnosperm; up to 11.5 feet (3.5 meters). Cultivated plants have had petioles as long as thirteen feet (four meters).^[2][3] The total length of the bipinnate frond can be up to 23 feet (seven meters). Uniquely, the ultimate pinnules are Y-shaped. Finally, this very conspicuous plant somehow escaped notice until 1994. Among Gymnosperms, these fronds are exceeded in mass only by Encephalartos laurentianus, and the blade (lamina) of C. multipinnata is by far the largest.

Cycas multipinnata
Conservation status
Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Gymnospermae
Division:	Cycadophyta
Class:	Cycadopsida
Order:	Cycadales
Family:	Cycadaceae
Genus:	Cycas
Species:	C. multipinnata
Binomial name
Cycas multipinnata C.J.Chen & S.Y.Yang

Distribution

Cycas multipinnata is found in:^[4]

• Red River gorge in eastern Yunnan
• Honghe Nature Cycad Reserve, Yunnan
• Xilong Mountain Natural Reserve, Yunnan
• western Guangxi, China
• Yen Bai Province, northern Vietnam

It likely occurs in Honghe, Jianshui, Mengla, and Mile counties of Yunnan.^[5]