Encephalartos woodii (Wood’s Cycad)

[Peter]

Wood’s Cycad (Encephalartos woodii) is Extinct in the Wild. Only a single plant of this species was ever found. This was a male, all females are already extinct. Luckily it was possible to take cuttings from this last male and rooting them to make more plants. With this method the plant's numbers can be increased, but its survival is in the hands of botanical gardens. Its extinction may have been a natural event, although the final end of the wild population may have been hastened by over-exploitation for medicinal purposes by local people. In 1916 the last remaining stem was removed for cultivation in botanical gardens. There is no likelihood of ever reintroducing the species back into the wild as there are only male plants in existence, and the risk of theft would be too great.


Photo © John S. Donaldson.

www.iucnredlist.org/info/gallery2004
extinctplants.petermaas.nl

[alex]

Encephalartos woodii

family: Zamiaceae

This species was found in KwaZulu-Natal / South Africa.

Described in 1908 by English horticulturist Sander, from a single male plant found in the Ngoya Forest by Medley Wood. This plant had several stems and offsets, all of which were removed from the wild and taken into cultivation over the decade following its discovery. No other plants have been discovered, since despite several intensive searches, and this species is consequently Extinct in the Wild and survives only in cultivation as propagations from the original discovery.

[Surroundx]

A nice article about this species with historic photographs:

www.atlasobscura.com/places/wood-s-cycad

Thanks to Charles Turner for the link

[Melanie]

This is the World's Loneliest Tree

[koeiyabe]

plants.jstor.org/search?filter=name&so=ps_group_by_genus_species+asc&Query=Encephalartos+woodii