Originally uploaded by Haarnaald
Encephalartos brevifoliolatus is a cycad species first described in 1996. By 2004, the 2 known female plants were gone and the population consisted of just 2 males. While scientists and conservationists were making arrangements to save these two plants, one was stolen and the other chopped to pieces. They managed to salvage some of the last plant and it’s being grown in “a secure location.”
Cycads are some of my favorite plants. They’re really really old and strange looking and make all sorts of crazy chemicals. AND lots of them are beetle pollinated. Last year for spring break when I went to lotusland, I took a gazillion pictures of the cycads.
Plant collectors and poachers are the reason this very rare cycad species is no longer found in the wild. Because there are no remaining female plants, the future of this species looks very very dim. You may have never heard of plant poaching, but Encephalartos brevifoliolatus isn’t the only species in danger because of poaching. Be careful when you’re buying plants not to buy ones that were harvested in the wild, especially if you know you’re buying a rare species!