Scientific: Cycas revoluta
Common: sago palm
Family: Cycadaceae (not a palm, related to conifers)
Origin: South Japan islands of Ryukyu and Nansei, found today primarily on steep to precipitous stony sites, but previously on flatter land now cleared. Reports of natural occurrences in coastal Fukien Province of China have not been substantiated, although circumstantial support for these claims is strong.

Hardiness zones:
Sunset 8-24
USDA 9-11 (in yards of the wealthy)

Landscape Use: Container plant, focal point, entry, atrium

Form & Character: Evergreen shrub to small branched and arborescent, airy, lacey yet stiff and erect, fernlike, tropical

Growth Habit: Very slow growing to 10', multiple trunk, branched w/ age

Foliage/texture: Whorled, persistent, pinnately compound leaves, stiff and frond like w/ distinct pinnae, young emergent leaves and apical meristem densely tomentose, medium to coarse texture

Flowers & fruits: Apical cone bearing plant, the female inflorescence is feather like, later forming a tightly packed seed head, closely covered by whitish miniature leaves. The male cone is pineapple shaped and elongated. Seeds are brownish-red, the shape of a flattened marble, about 1 1/4"across if ingested may cause Vomiting, diarrhea, headache, dizziness, seizures..

Seasonal color: None

Temperature: Hardy to 15^oF

Light: Partial shade in desert to full sun along California coast and in Florida. Becomes leggy and thin if grown in the shade.

Soil: Tolerant of all but highly alkaline soils, leaf speckling might also be caused by magnesium deficiency.

Watering: Infrequently regular deep irrigations.

Pruning: Remove old fronds only

Propagation: Seed or division

Disease and pests: Apparent viral infection causes yellow speckling on fronds. There is no cure.

Additional comments: Sago palm was the second species of Cycas to be recognized, described in 1782 by Swedish botanist and physician Carl Peter Thunberg. All parts of the sago palm are poisonous and have been found to contain various carcinogens and neurotoxins. Seeds are especially harmful if ingested causing gastrointestinal damage, liver damage, seizures and even death. Ethno botanists think that ingestment of unprocessed sago palm seeds (as flour) during World War II on the island of Guam (a result of food shortages) was responsible for the acute number of cases of ALS (amyotropic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gerhrig's disease) that were observed in people stationed there during the war. Sago palm is an ancient taxon showing up in fossil records dating 65 million years ago.

In horticulture commerce and landscaping, sago palm is a highly ($) valued plant because it grows slow, is difficult to propagate, and is relatively rare in the wild. Urban stock are easily transplantable which makes theft a problem.

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