Encephalartos bubalinus

Encephalartos bubalinus is a species of cycad in Kenya and Tanzania.

Encephalartos bubalinus
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Gymnospermae
Division:	Cycadophyta
Class:	Cycadopsida
Order:	Cycadales
Family:	Zamiaceae
Genus:	Encephalartos
Species:	E. bubalinus
Binomial name
Encephalartos bubalinus Melville

Description

Encephalartos bubalinus has an upright or sometimes reclining stem, reaching 35–45 cm in diameter and up to 2 meters in height as it matures. Its pinnate leaves, forming a crown at the top of the stem, are 60 to 160 cm long and consist of 50-90 pairs of tough leaflets arranged alternately along the midrib at a 45° angle, becoming spiny near the base. This dioecious species produces male cones measuring 27.5–55 cm in length and 13–5 cm in diameter, as well as female cones that are 32-45 cm long and 20–25 cm wide, both greenish in color. The seeds, roughly ovoid and 30–40 mm long, are enveloped in a red-orange sarcotesta.^[3]