In the grasslands and scrublands of Eastern South Africa, there grows a plant with a ferocious reputation. Its common name is fairly unassuming. It’s the Eastern Cape blue cycad, and that doesn’t sound too dangerous, does it? The scientific name, on the other hand, tells a different story. This plant’s Latin name is “Encephalartos horridus.” The Latin term “horridus” means something along the lines of “rough” or “spiky,” and this plant deserves that title. In a modern context, it means “horrible,” and that’s exactly the meaning that the scientists who named it were going for (Cycad society). Each leaf is tipped with two nasty spines, and plant-eating animals tend to leave Cape blue cycads alone. So should you, by the way. As weird and cool as this plant looks, I don’t recommend touching it. Those spikes are seriously sharp.

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            And if the spikes aren’t enough to justify this cycad’s horrid reputation, the poison definitely is. Just like its famous relative, the sago palm, the Eastern cape blue cycad is thoroughly toxic. Most of its body is laced with potent neurotoxins. Laboratory tests done in the sixties found that the poison from a gram of Encephalartos horridus seed would kill a rabbit in less than two hours (Whiting). Only the fleshy coat surrounding the seed is safe enough for animals to eat. As sketchy as that may sound, Birds, monkeys, and even elephants make occasional visits to the cycad’s cones in order to get ahold of this treat. These animals may actually help the plant too, by carrying its seeds away (Sanbi). That’s because when they take a seed coat from the plant, the seed is still inside. The animals eat the coat, but drop the seed wherever they happen to be sitting. This means that some lucky seeds get to hitch a ride to a fresh new patch of ground instead of living in the shade of their parents. The animal gets food, and the plant gets a lift to a new habitat. Everyone wins! That is, unless the animal eats the seed itself. With all the spikes and poison, it’s a wonder that even the hungriest animals come anywhere near this plant. However, there are some organisms that take their relationship with the cycad a step further, living inside its body. Some of these strange life forms help the cycad survive in a different way: by helping it make protein.

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            Any dietician can tell you that you need protein in order to grow. Our bodies are full of proteins, which do countless important jobs for us, and we couldn’t survive without them. Plants, including cycads, need protein too. However, most plants can’t make their proteins without some help. To make a protein, you need nitrogen. Luckily for us, about 79% of the air we breathe is nitrogen gas. Unluckily for us, getting that nitrogen out of the air is a huge pain. It takes a lot of energy to pack nitrogen into a molecule that living organisms can actually use. Most living things (including cycads) don’t actually have the ability to convert nitrogen like that. However, cycads have an interesting way of getting around this problem. They let someone else do the work.

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            Living in the roots of most cycads are colonies of bacteria. These special bacteria are bluish-green, and grow using energy from sunlight, much like a plant would. They also use that energy to convert nitrogen gas into a more usable form (Grobbelaar et al). This process is called “nitrogen fixation.” In exchange for the bacteria’s nitrogen, the cycad grows a special kind of root for them to live in. This is called a “coralloid” root. If you were to cut open one of these coralloid roots, you might see a layer dark blue-green just below the skin. That’s the bacteria. They essentially get to live in the plant version of a castle. Instead of living out in the dirt, where they might get eaten by animals or fungi at any moment, these bacteria live in luxury. Inside the root walls, they get protection from the outside world. These roots grow near the surface, so the bacteria still get light. The Cape blue cycad gets to use their nitrogen to make proteins and grow, while the cyanobacteria get a well-defended house to live in. Everybody wins! Unfortunately, not all of the cycad’s guest’s are as helpful as the bacteria.

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            There are some very small beetles that can cause some very big problems for the Cape blue cycad (Donaldson). These beetles are from a group called the “Antliarhinus weevils.” They look like most other beetles, except they have a really long set of mouthparts that they use to drill into cycad cones. They then lay their eggs in the cones. That’s where the cycad’s eggs and sperm would normally grow. However, when the baby weevils hatch from their eggs, they eat those reproductive tissues. Sometimes, up to 90% of the cycad’s seeds are lost because the beetle larvae eat them (CITES). This is bad news for the cycads, because they already reproduce slowly anyway. To make matters worse, Cape blue cycads are under pressure from humans too.

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            You may have noticed that this plant is weird and cool. If so, you’re not alone. Lots of people want them for their gardens, and will pay exorbitant sums of money to get them. This problem, like the beetles, affects more than just Encephalartos horridus. These plants can sell for hundreds of dollars apiece, depending on how big they are (Yeld). To prevent this, institutions that grow South African cycads often implant radio tracking chips into the trunks of their more valuable specimens. This lets authorities identify stolen cycads, and woe betide anyone who gets caught running off with these precious plants.

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            The South African government places huge penalties on poachers. The trafficking of endangered cycads carries fines of more than 600,000 USD (Retief et al). That sounds like a lot, but it’s even more when you consider that the median wage for employed people living in Eastern Cape is less than 2000 USD per year (Statistics South Africa). Alternatively, poachers could face up to ten years in jail. Sometimes, they get both the fine and the jail sentence.

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            These extreme measures are in place because Cape blue cycads are in big trouble. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimates that within the last 600 years, half of the world’s Cape blue cycads were lost (IUCN). The worst part is that they aren’t the only cycads suffering. 70% of South Africa’s cycad species are at risk of extinction (Retief et al). If you look at the Encephalartos genus, you’ll find 27 of the 37 total species are ranked as “endangered” or worse. (Sanbi). Three of them are actually extinct in the wild, surviving only in botanical gardens and private collections. Encephalartos horridus might end up that way too some day. However, there is still hope.

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            There’s a different species of cycad that has bounced back from a similar situation, and it’s right here in the Fullerton Arboretum. The sago palm was also threatened by poaching, but it has since returned from the brink of extinction. If you haven’t already visited that stop on the tour, make sure to give it a listen. It’s a great success story. Through years of hard work, conservationists managed to save the sago palm. Maybe, just maybe, they can save the Cape blue cycad too. 

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