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The Painted Cycad
Sunday, September 9, 2012 at 10:30PM | Share Article 
Wow! I just realized that it has been a month and a day since I last posted.
Explanations first.
I decided a while back to limit my posts to weekends which is when it is most convenient for me to take pictures and research. The past weekends, however, have not been conducive to blogging which is why there have been no posts from my end. It also explains why I haven't been commenting on your blogs. The number of Google Reader items to read to play catch up = Scary! I already started last night but I've barely made a dent in the numbers.
There were two long weekends to enjoy last month, one of which was spent out of town communing with nature at our favorite go-to mountain home. Here is a picture of Pals (from the "Plant Clinic" post) and I heading down to the stream for a swim. You can almost make out the stream above my head.
The other long weekend was spent at the local tennis club. First, I participated in a tennis tournament. It was sponsored by my father-in-law. How could I refuse? Second, I also participated in our Tennis Club's monthly tree planting event. I've donated a couple of plants to this event where the month's birthday celebrant/s add to the greenery around the tennis court. Below standing are Gus, myself, Tagaytay Living blogger Eric Villegas. Birthday celebrant Claro and Club president Gerry planting a NOID palm which I had grown from seed.
Last weekend was dedicated to the children, taking them to dance and voice lessons, watching the Phantom of the Opera and making sure they prepared for their end term exams.
I've also been extra busy at work, proving I'm deserving of my very recent promotion. Yay, me! How is that for self aggrandizement? LOL!
Now back to business.
Zamia variegata (accepted name) is also known as Zamia picta (synonym), with the Latin "picta" meaning decorated or embellished.
Its known habitat are the Central American (Mexico, Belize and Guatemala) low altitude rainforests.
The plant likes warmth, shade and lots of water. It is a sloooooowww grower. Although it has a subterranean trunk it has been reported to grow to up to 2 meters tall.
First described by Dyer Biologia Centrali-Americani. Botany Volume 3. 1884. From Mexico and Guatemala. "It is remarkable that previous writers should have felt any hesitation in claiming for this splendid plant the specific rank which is undoubtedly due to it. Its affinities with Zamia muricata are really comparatively remote. -- William Botting Hemsley .Botany. Volume III . London : Published for the editors by R. H. Porter and Dulau: 1882-1886.
It is said to be the only true variegated cycad. But take note the variegation is not a mutation. It is its normal state.
This is my young specimen but the leaves are already way way taller than me.
The spines on the rhachis are dangerous. It once pierced my thumb when I cut a dying leaf. You don't want to mess with this plant. Ouch!
Even the new leaf (on the right) has spines along its rachis.
This is a photo of a young leaf flushing. Look at all those hairs. Like most other cycads, the hairs disappear once the leaf matures.
This is what I call nature's work of art. The green and yellow variegation of the leaflets looks almost like an abstract painting.
The picture below is a close up of a leaflet held against the sun. I didn't notice the black spots before and now I am wondering if they are a sign of disease. Well, disease or not, they seem to make the leaflet look more like an abstract painting.
This painted cycad, like paintings, becomes more valuable as it gets older. I still have to wait for at least ten more years for mine to become valuable though.
Reader Comments (17)
congratulations on your promotion Bom, nice to read you have been having some rest and relaxation with family and friends, good luck to your children with their exams, my grandsons just started school again after the long summer break,
the plant looks so elegant in the first photo showing it whole but the close up of the thorns in the next photo paint a different picture, the leaves are quite beautiful, the pattern reminds me of sunlight on water, Frances
Ah good to hear from you again Bom, and what a great plant you returned with, I love it! The leaves, the thorns...what's not to love.
@ Frances : Thank you for the congratulations and well wishes. Report cards should be out soon so we're still keeping our fingers crossed. I hope your grandsons are transitioning well as I'm sure they enjoyed their summer break.
@ Loree : The plant would go well in your garden with its thorns. Like Island Threads mentioned, it is deceptive with its beautiful leaves and thorny rhachis.
You really have a growing collection, Bom. The new plant really does look it packs a bit of hurt. The leaves are quite pretty. I did an ink drawing very much like the last image when I was in college. It does make a nice piece of art. I hope your Zamia variegata lives a long life and becomes a collector plant for you.
Yes, sometimes life gets busy! Congrats on the promotion too! Cool plant but I tend to stay away from those with thorny bits, LOL! The leaves are very abstract.. I think it is nature's art!
Interesting to learn of your new cycad, and those thorns! But I must like your priorities...tennis, family are things far better, and fit in the blog and work. Never been able to master that...yet.
@ Donna : Growing but I'm nowhere near satisfied with my collection. Are gardeners ever really satisfied? There is always something isn't there? :-D
@ Karin : Thank you for the congratulations. I hope it really is just nature's art and no disease is sneaking in.
@ Desert Dweller / David C. : I haven't mastered it either. If any blogger has, he/she would have a really good post to write.
You've been a busy Bom, but all for good :) I do love your Cycad collection especially this new one. I tried this one before but the growth is so slow and where I sited it was too cold for it so it died eventually.
Is it easy to source different Cycads in the Philippines (apart from C. revoluta)?
That is one frightening looking plant. I have been quite busy recently but have done a lot of travelling which sets my mind wandering and then I come up with thing to blog about so end up blogging late at night before I forget. Now I am back at work there is no inspiration at all
@ Mark and Gaz : The other local Cycad species such as the C. zambalensis I featured in an earlier post, C. rhumpii, etc, are readily available. Sorry to hear about your Zamia. It is really a slow grower.
@ Helen : The thorns do make it tough-looking but the foliage once the plant matures also makes it a real beauty.
Travel always opens the mind and just like you I come up with so many things to blog about but I find that during a trip, free internet access is not always the norm and hotels charge such exorbitant prices. By the time I do get access, my muse is usually back in hibernation.
Beautiful plant. But it looks very dangerous. I can almost feel those thorns.
Congratulation on your recent promotion:).
Are you sure those spines are not just juvenile characteristics. The variegation to me looks like leaf blight, a disease on leaves of other plants caused by leaf blight fungus!
Bom, it can be quite tricky to balance between blogging and doing other stuff besides having to work as well...
you are not alone in this... I am struggling too...
and your posts, I imagine you must have put a lot of effort into the writing, the photos, etc...
I would not be able to do likewise... it would be too heavy on me...
compared to yours, my posts are rather 'light-weight'....
anyway, congrats on your recent promotion....
I am sure you deserved every bit of it...
Congratulations, I reckon you are entitled to your self aggrandizement. An extremely unique looking plant you show us today, but, ouch.
The photos shows that you are enjoying on what you are doing. It is fun to see that your family are involved. Keep on blogging too!
Congratulations on your well-deserved promotion, Bom! You have been busy with real-live happy events recently.