|Photo Ken Hill
|The Cycad Pages
- Encephalartos inopinus R.A. Dyer, Bothalia 8(2): 169-170 (1964). H—PRE
- "TYPE: Republic of South Africa, Transvaal Province, Lydenburg District, Kromellenboog, about 1 mile east of asbestos mine, R.A. Dyer 5788 (holo PRE iso B)."
Latin opinus, expected, with the modifying prefix in-, not.
Although first discovered in 1955, this species was not described until
1964 by South African botanist
A taxonomically isolated species that is not readily confused with any
other. The spreading crown of flat, bluish leaves with well-spaced, entire,
broad-based leaflets that droop away from the rachis are immediately
Distribution and habitat:
Eastern Transvaal Province, South Africa, in skeletal or no soil, on steep
to precipitous slopes in gorges on dolomites.
1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants
Plants arborescent; stem 3 m tall, 15-25 cm diam.
Leaves 100-150 cm long, blue or silver, semiglossy, flat (not keeled)
in section (opposing leaflets inserted at 180° on rachis); rachis
yellowish, straight, stiff, slightly twisted in some leaves; petiole straight,
with no prickles; leaf-base collar prominent; basal leaflets not reducing to
Leaflets lanceolate, concolorous, not overlapping, not lobed,
insertion angle horizontal; margins flat; upper margin entire (no teeth); lower
margin entire (no teeth); median leaflets 14-20 cm long, 8-10 mm wide.
Pollen cones 1-3, narrowly ovoid, green, 18-25 cm long, 6-8 cm diam.
Seed cones 1-2, ovoid, green, 30-35 cm long, 15-20 cm diam.
Seeds ovoid or oblong, 20-25 mm long, 15-20 mm wide, sarcotesta