User:Therepublicofmelki/Zamia porrofylla

Zamia porrofylla is a cycad native to Melki Island, Melki. After it's long leaves it's named the Pencil Leaf Cycad. The plant's binomial name comes from the Latin zamia, for "pine nut", and a portmanteau of the Latin porro for "long" and the Greek fýlla for "leaf". The synonymous binomial name uses the Latin word runco for "weed".

Description and ecology
The plant has a short trunk up to 10 cm broad and high, usually marked with scars from old branches that fell off during the winter. It grows very quickly until it is mature, then it stops qrowing due to branches at the top falling off. Including the leaves, the whole plant typically grows to 2.5 m tall with a width of about 5 m.

The leaves radiate from the center of the trunk; each leaf is 100-250 cm long with a petiole 25-40 cm long, and 20-35 pairs of extremely stiff, pubescent (fuzzy) green-brown leaflets. These leaflets grow 20-40 cm long and 2-7 cm wide. The circular crowns of leaves resemble fern or palm fronds. They are erect in full sun, horizontal in shade.

This plant produces an orange cone in the center of the female plant. The spherical female (seed-producing) cones and smaller male (pollen-producing) cone clusters are produced on separate plants. Pollination is by certain insects, namely the belid weevil Rhopalotria mollis.

The Pencil Leaf Cycad plant can be reproduced by the fleshy, brightly orange-brown-colored seeds produced by the female plants. The germination process is very slow and difficult to achieve in cultivation.

This plant is easy to care for and grows best in somewhat dry, well-drained soil. They do well in full sun or part shade, but not in constant deep shade. They are not very salt- and drought-tolerant, but should be protected from the cold. They should occasionally be fed with some palm food. In temperate regions it is commonly grown as a houseplant and, in subtropical areas, as a container or bedding plant outdoors.

All parts of the plant are poisonous to animals and humans. The toxicity causes liver and kidney failure, as well as eventual paralysis and heart attacks. Dehydration sets in very quickly. A treatment for the poisoning is unknown currently.

User:Therepublicofmelki/Category:Flora of Melki