I just returned from a field trip collecting cycads from the wild in northeastern Australia (inland from the Great Barrier Reef). My goal was to collect four species -- we managed to find all of them!
The first species we found was Cycas media (below). One site was easy to collect plants from and the other wasn't. Can you guess which was the painful one? Yes, the one on the right with the tall spiky grass, loose rocks, holes in the ground, and a steep hill!
(Click on any of the images to bring up a larger version).
This was the only population of Cycas terryana we found. The species was described by Dr Paul Forster (Queensland herbarium) and named after the cycad biologist Dr Irene Terry (University of Utah).
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The third species was Cycas ophiolitica. As for all members of Cycas, the seeds are in a loose "cone" (bottom left), and there is a separate pollen cone (bottom right).
The southernmost species of Cycas is Cycas megacarpa. It's named after the large seeds: mega=big and carpa=seeds.
There were fewer sites than I expected -- land has been cleared for agriculture and plants stolen from the wild. Unfortunately, cycads are the world's most endangered plants and searching unsuccessfully for these plants reinforced this sad reality.
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