Encephalartos schmitzii
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Mutinondo Wilderness Area
Aug 2002
Photo: Mike Bingham
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| Synonyms: | |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Plants nearly acaulescent with a stem up to 0.3 m tall and 20 cm diameter. Leaves up to 9 in the crown, 40-60 cm long, blue green, strongly keeled; rhachis green, straight with last third sharply recurved, not spirally twisted; petiole straight, with 1-6 prickles; leaf-base collar absent; basal leaflets reduced to spines. Leaflets linear, weakly discolorous, not overlapping, not lobed, inserted at an angle of more than 45 (up to 80) degrees; margins flat; upper margin entire, or with 1-3 teeth; lower margin entire or with 1-3 teeth; median leaflets 10-14 cm long and 8-10 mm wide. Pollen cones 1-3, ovoid or narrowly ovoid, bluish-green or green, 8-10 cm long and 3-4 cm in diameter. Seed cones solitary, ovoid, blue-green or green, 20-25 cm long and 10-12 cm in diameter. Seeds ovoid or oblong, 20-25 mm long and 20-25 mm wide, sarcotesta orange. |
| Type location: |
DRC, Katanga Province |
| Notes: |
Conservation Status: Vulnerable C1 All species of Encephalartos are listed under CITES appendix 1. CITES prohibits international trade in specimens of these species except for certain commercial motives, such as scientific research. “E. schmitzii occurs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the extreme south of the Kundelungu plateau in the Shaba (now Katanga) province and in Zambia along the Muchinga escarpment in the Luapula and Northern provinces. The distribution broadly follows the catchment of the Luapula River. Occurs at elevations from 1.000 to 1,400 m.” IUCN Red List: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/41938/0 This statement requires correction of the geography. “Muchinga” is the Bemba name for a mountain, so appears, as “Muchinga Escarpment”, on some maps in more than one locality. I am not aware of any records of the occurrence of this species in Luapula Province, and if it occurs at all in the Zambian part of the Luapula River Basin, it is likely to be near the source of the Mansha R. at Shiwa Ngandu, a known locality. The Mpika occurrence lies within the Luangwa-Zambezi River system. Mpika and Shiwa Ngandu are both in Muchinga Province, recently split from Northern Province. It is possible that the occurrences at Shiwa Ngandu are also on the Zambezi side of the continental divide. According to Goode (2001) the largest colony is near the town of Mpika in Brachystegia microphylla woodland on a rocky ridge (information provided by JonathanTimberlake). |
| Derivation of specific name: | schmitzii: after Andre Schmitz, plant collector, who found the first specimen, a single male plant, in 1955. |
| Habitat: | Miombo woodland; the plants are fire adapted |
| Altitude range: (metres) | |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | DR Congo and Zambia. |
| FZ divisions: | N,W |
| Zambian distribution (Provinces): | Nw,Mc |
| Growth form(s): | |
| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | Vulnerable |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Images last updated: | Wednesday 21 September 2016 |
| Literature: |
Goode, D. (2001). Cycads of Africa Vol. 1. Cycads of Africa Cape Town Malaisse, F. (1969). Encephalartos schmitzii Malaisse, Cycadacee nouvelle du Congo-Kinshasa Bull. Jard. Bot. Natl. Belg. 39(4) Pages 401 - 406. Protologue (Includes a picture). Vollesen, K. & Merrett, L. (2019). Field Guide to the (wetter) Zambian Miombo Woodland. Part 1 (Ferns & Monocots) GVPedia Communications Page 110. (Includes a picture). |
Other sources of information about Encephalartos schmitzii:
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Flora of the DRC: Encephalartos schmitziiExternal websites:
African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Encephalartos schmitziiAfrican Plant Database: Encephalartos schmitzii
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Encephalartos schmitzii
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Encephalartos schmitzii
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Encephalartos schmitzii
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Encephalartos schmitzii
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Encephalartos schmitzii
JSTOR Plant Science: Encephalartos schmitzii
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Encephalartos schmitzii
Plants of the World Online: Encephalartos schmitzii
Tropicos: Encephalartos schmitzii
Wikipedia: Encephalartos schmitzii