This section is from the book "The Standard Cyclopedia Of Horticulture Vol2", by L. H. Bailey. See also: Western Garden Book: More than 8,000 Plants - The Right Plants for Your Climate - Tips from Western Garden Experts.
(Greek, horned Zamia; referring to the horned scales of the cones, which distinguish this genus from Zamia). Cycaddceae. Handsome Mexican foliage plants, with cycas-kke leaves, but less cultivated in American palm-houses than Cycas.
Trunk erect in age, crowned by a whorl of pinnate cycas-kke leaves which are petiolate and unarmed: flowers in cones borne from among the leaves, the cones often stalked: seeds rare and little known. -Six species. Best raised from young imported plants, but rarely prop, by seeds, or by offsets from the slow-growing trunk. Burn out the center of the plant with a hot iron, and a number of offsets will spring from the trunk and the crown; these may be used for propogation
Brongn. Fig. 880. Trunk thick, short, covered with the remains of fallen If . - stalks: leaves rich, dark green, pinnate, on prickly petioles 5-6 in. long, which are shaggy when young; leaflets very numerous, 6-12 in. long or more, lanceolate: cones produced annually on separate plants; female cones 9-12 in. long, 4-6 in. thick, the scales 2-horned; male cones narrower, longer, on a hairy stalk, the scales with 2 small teeth. Mex. Gn. 9, pp. 308-9. - An excellent decorative plant, best grown in sandy loam. Give freely of water and heat in spring and summer, but keep cooler and drier in winter. Somewhat tender although grown in Cent. Fla.
Fig. 880. Ceratozamia mexicana. - Young plant (fertile).
C. Miqueliana, Wendl. A plant with 20-30 pairs of leaflets and a If. - stalk 18 in. long: fruit not known certainly. Cult, in botanic gardens and worthy of wider use. Mex. and W. Indies.