Cycas guizhouensis

Cycas guizhouensis

Cycas guizhouensis is a cycad of south-western China, where it grows on the limestone slopes of the Nanpan and Qingshui valleys, where the provinces of Guizhou, Yunnan and Guangxi meet. This small member of the genus Cycas, often without a visible trunk, is recognised by its narrow leaflets twisted on the rachis. It is listed as Vulnerable and has lost many populations. In cultivation it is often presented as hardy, but observations made in the south of France show that its foliage is sensitive to frost, even though the plant recovers after −6 °C (21 °F). Depending on the author, some plants have also circulated under the names Cycas szechuanensis, Cycas multiovula or Cycas longlinensis.

Key facts about Cycas guizhouensis

  • Accepted name: Cycas guizhouensis K.M.Lan & R.F.Zou (1983), accepted by The World List of Cycads (version 2026.08.15); the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), on which POWO is based, also accepts it (consulted through GBIF on 31 October 2026)
  • Former names and synonyms: Cycas longlinensis Hung T.Chang & Y.C.Zhong (1997) according to The World List of Cycads; Cycas multiovula D.Yue Wang (1996) according to Hill (2008) and Species+, but placed under Cycas diannanensis by The World List of Cycads; the Flora of China (1999) included the species in Cycas szechuanensis (see Taxonomy)
  • Family: Cycadaceae, order Cycadales; section Stangerioides (Hill 2008)
  • Common names: “Guizhou sago palm”, a horticultural name (Mississippi State University); in Chinese feng-wei-cao, Guizhou su-tie, Nanpan jiang su-tie (Hill 2008)
  • Natural range: China, south-western Guizhou, eastern Yunnan and north-western Guangxi, mainly in the Nanpan River basin
  • IUCN status: Vulnerable (VU A4acd), assessment by J. D. Bösenberg published in 2022
  • CITES and other protection: CITES Appendix II; Annex B in the European Union; first-class state protection in China (national list of 2021)
  • Documented hardiness: at the Jardin zoologique tropical (Var, France), foliage badly marked at −4 °C (24.8 °F); all leaves lost but plant survived −6 °C (21 °F) in February 2012, in the ground (see Cold hardiness)
  • Light and soil: in the wild, low forest and scrub on steep slopes, cliffs and limestone scree
  • Habit and adult size: trunk up to 1 m tall and 10 to 15 cm across, often underground; 5 to 20 leaves 1 to 1.8 m long
  • In the UK, US and Australia: Montgomery Botanical Center (seven accessions, 1994–1999); Royal Botanic Garden Sydney (15 plants of wild origin); some fifteen other American gardens and Brisbane in BGCI PlantSearch; no British record
  • Toxicity: no analysis specific to the species; treat it as poisonous, like all Cycas (see Toxicity and precautions)

How to recognise Cycas guizhouensis

Cycas guizhouensis is recognised by its small size, its narrow leaflets, 8 to 12 mm wide, clearly twisted on the rachis, and its petiole, which is not spiny down to its swollen base. According to Ken Hill (2008), these characters, together with slightly keeled leaves and fairly large male cones, separate it from the other Chinese cycads of its group.

Hill (2008) describes an aerial or underground trunk, at most 1 m tall and 10 to 15 cm across, with 5 to 20 dark green, semi-glossy leaves, 100 to 180 cm long, bearing 110 to 210 leaflets. The petiole, 30 to 60 cm long, makes up 25 to 40 % of the leaf. The median leaflets measure 16 to 37 cm by 8 to 12 mm, with flat or slightly recurved margins. The cataphylls, narrowly triangular, are soft and hairy.

The male cones, spindle-shaped, orange to very pale brown, measure 20 to 40 cm by 6 to 14 cm. The megasporophylls, 10 to 20 cm long and covered in yellow or brown down, carry 4 to 8 hairless ovules and a rounded blade 6 to 7 cm long, cut into 17 to 33 soft lobes, with a distinct terminal spine 2.5 to 4.5 cm long. The seeds, almost round, measure 23 to 29 mm by 22 to 28 mm, with a yellow fleshy coat and a smooth or warty shell.

Cycas guizhouensis
Megasporophylls of a Cycas guizhouensis

Hybrids

No natural hybrid has been described. In cultivation, the hybrids Cycas revoluta × Cycas guizhouensis and Cycas taitungensis × Cycas guizhouensis are grown in the United States: the Juniper Level Botanic Garden, near Raleigh, North Carolina, lists both among the cycads that survived its winters outdoors without protection (see Cold hardiness). On the French forum Fous de palmiers, a grower doubted in 2011 that the taitungensis hybrid was of much interest, either ornamental or for hardiness.

Possible confusion

A name mixed up with several others

Cycas guizhouensis has been confused with several related names. De Laubenfels and Adema (1998), then the Flora of China (1999), placed it in the synonymy of Cycas szechuanensis, which the Flora described as a broad species of the hot, dry valleys of the Nanpan; Hill (2008) and The World List of Cycads now reserve that name for other plants. Hill (2008) also notes that the 1997 Red List rated Cycas guizhouensis Vulnerable while citing szechuanensis among its synonyms, and then listed the latter separately as extinct.

The name Cycas multiovula, described from a cultivated plant, is placed under Cycas guizhouensis by Hill (2008), Species+ and the Kew classification relayed by GBIF, but under Cycas diannanensis by The World List of Cycads, following a genetic study by Liu, Zhou and Gong (2015). Finally, Cycas longlinensis, described from Longlin County (Guangxi), was joined to Cycas guizhouensis by Feng, Liu and Gong (2016) after a molecular study of the Cycas segmentifida complex.

Telling it from related species

  • Cycas segmentifida: broader leaflets (9 to 20 mm), flat on the rachis (Hill 2008); according to Feng, Liu and Gong (2016), the two species occupy different basins, the You River for segmentifida and the Nanpan for guizhouensis.
  • Cycas revoluta: clearly keeled leaves, stiff leaflets with margins rolled under, woolly trunk apex and hairy ovules (Hill’s key, 2008).
  • Cycas panzhihuaensis: leaflets 5 to 7 mm wide, flat and not twisted, bluish leaves, waxy male cones and red to orange seeds (Hill 2008).
  • Cycas taiwaniana: broader leaflets (9 to 16 mm) and a petiole spiny down to its swollen base (Hill 2008).

Taxonomy

K. M. Lan and R. F. Zou described Cycas guizhouensis in 1983 in Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica 21(2): 209–210. The type was collected on 10 August 1981 from a plant grown in the grounds of Xingyi hospital (Guizhou), itself brought from Wantun, near Xingyi; the holotype is held at the Guizhou Agricultural College, with an isotype in Beijing (PE) (Hill 2008; The World List of Cycads). The protologue could not be consulted.

The authors compared the species with Cycas pectinata, but Hill (2008) places it rather with the group of Cycas balansae and Cycas taiwaniana, in section Stangerioides: soft male cones, yellow seeds with non-fibrous flesh, hairless ovules. According to Hill, the type of Cycas multiovula came “from the same place” as that of Cycas guizhouensis, whereas elsewhere he cites that type as cultivated at Gejiu (Yunnan): this contradiction could not be resolved.

Genetic studies confirm the unity of the species in the Nanpan basin. Feng, Zheng and Gong (2016) studied 209 plants from 11 populations: they found high genetic diversity, two evolutionary units separated in the Middle or Late Pleistocene, and an ancient reduction in numbers. Xiao and colleagues (2004), with other markers, had on the contrary measured low diversity in 12 populations.

Etymology and history

The epithet comes from Guizhou Province, with the Latin ending -ensis, “from” (Hill 2008; Haynes 2022, cited by The World List of Cycads). Unusually, the species was described from a cultivated plant, although wild collections were already known (Hill 2008).

According to Walters and colleagues (1995), cited by Hill (2008), the species was largely destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, to the point that they considered it the most threatened of the Chinese cycads; the forestry service of Xingyi prefecture had given up protecting it in situ and concentrated on ex situ collections. More recent surveys have shown that it remains fairly abundant over a wide area, where Guizhou, Guangxi and Yunnan meet (Hill 2008). In cultivation outside China, it reached botanic gardens early: the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney holds plants of wild origin received in 1990, 1993 and 1999, and Montgomery Botanical Center its first accessions from 1994, judging by their numbers.

Common names

No English name is attested other than “Guizhou sago palm”, a horticultural name used by Mississippi State University. Hill (2008), after Walters and Yang (1994) and Bonta and Osborne (2007), gives many Chinese names: feng-wei-cao (“phoenix-tail herb”), feng-wei su-tie, Guizhou su-tie (“Guizhou cycad”), Nanpan jiang su-tie (“Nanpan River cycad”), guan-yin-lian, shan-bo-lou and su-tie, the last a name for cycads in general. Species+ adds Shan-bo-lu, Feng-wei-cao, Su-tie and Guan-yin-lian, and the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney labels its plants “feng-wei-cao”.

In the wild

Cycas guizhouensis grows in the valleys of the Nanpan and Qingshui rivers, in south-western Guizhou, eastern Yunnan and north-western Guangxi (Hill 2008). It is typical of low, scrubby forest on steep slopes, on cliffs or limestone scree; Feng, Zheng and Gong (2016) also report sandy soils. Under the name Cycas szechuanensis, the Flora of China places these plants between 400 and 1,300 m, in thickets and open forest in the hot, dry valleys of the Nanpan.

The sources disagree on the climate. According to Whitelock (2002), as relayed by the Useful Tropical Plants website, the region has a mean annual temperature of 18.5 °C (65.3 °F), summer maxima of about 38.5 °C (101.3 °F), winter minima of about −2.5 °C (27.5 °F) and 1,000 mm of rain, mostly in summer, with dry winters and occasional frost. Feng, Zheng and Gong (2016), after Jones (1993), describe on the contrary humid, frost-free winters. No series of measurements from the sites has been published.

Conservation status and regulation

The IUCN lists Cycas guizhouensis as Vulnerable (VU A4acd), in the assessment by J. D. Bösenberg published in 2022: criterion A4 refers to a decline of at least 30 % over a period covering both past and future, here inferred from observation, habitat loss and collection (category confirmed by GBIF and The World List of Cycads). The previous assessment, by K. D. Hill, dates from 2010; Hill (2008) rated it Near Threatened, after Donaldson (2003).

The threats cited are the destruction of habitats for commercial crops and collection, for the edible stem and for ornament (Feng, Zheng and Gong 2016). Two populations had fewer than 20 plants, and five populations studied by Xiao and colleagues in 2004 could not be found again. Zheng and colleagues (2017) report a severe decline, with fewer than 50 plants per population, despite several reserves, notably in Yunnan and Guangxi, including that of Mount Jinzhong at Longlin.

In China, all species of Cycas are first-class plants on the national list of protected wild plants of 2021. Like the whole family Cycadaceae, the species has been listed in CITES Appendix II since 4 February 1977, with annotation #4 (CoP20 version, in force since 5 March 2026): seeds, pollen and seedlings in sterile containers are not covered by CITES. The United Kingdom, the United States and Australia apply CITES through their own national legislation; in the European Union the species is in Annex B of Regulation (EC) No 338/97 (annexes set by Regulation (EU) 2026/1383, applicable since 29 June 2026). Databases consulted on 21 October 2026: check the rules in force before buying, and choose plants raised from seed in cultivation.

Growing Cycas guizhouensis

In short: it grows in the ground in a Mediterranean garden in the south of France, losing its leaves in hard winters but recovering; it is less vigorous than Cycas taitungensis and its foliage is more frost-sensitive than that of Cycas revoluta.

Outdoor and in-ground cultivation

Cycas guizhouensis grows in the ground at the Jardin zoologique tropical at La Londe-les-Maures, in the Var, on the Mediterranean coast of France, where it has come through the winters of the Var coast, sometimes losing its leaves (see Cold hardiness). The observations published by this site describe it as fairly robust, but less vigorous than Cycas taitungensis, with foliage more sensitive to frost than that of Cycas revoluta. This Mediterranean experience is relevant to gardeners in comparable climates, such as coastal California or southern Australia, although no equivalent trial has been reported from either.

In the United States, Montgomery Botanical Center grows its collection outdoors in southern Florida, and the species is listed by several gardens of coastal southern California (see In cultivation in the UK, US and Australia), but none publishes growing notes. The general rules for Cycas apply: a very free-draining soil, sun or bright light shade, regular watering during the summer flush and a drier soil in winter. Its small size and short or underground trunk make winter protection easy, with a mulch or fleece, during a cold spell: this is a deduction from its habit, not a tested method.

Container cultivation

In the United Kingdom and other cold regions it is best grown in a large pot and kept frost-free or nearly so under glass in winter: its foliage marks at −4 °C (24.8 °F) in the open, and no in-ground result is known from Britain. No container report specific to the species has been published.

In cultivation in the UK, US and Australia

In short: well represented in American collections and in Sydney, absent from British lists. A garden listed in the BGCI PlantSearch database (consulted in October 2026) has declared the species at some point, which does not prove that a living plant is there today.

  • United States: the online catalogue of Montgomery Botanical Center (Coral Gables, Florida) lists seven accessions, from 1994 to 1999 judging by their numbers. BGCI PlantSearch adds Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and Naples Botanical Garden in Florida, The Huntington, Ganna Walska Lotusland, San Diego Botanic Garden, the San Diego Zoo, Descanso Gardens and Sonoma Botanical Garden in California, Houston Botanic Garden and The John Fairey Garden in Texas, Moore Farms Botanical Garden in South Carolina, the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii and the U.S. National Plant Germplasm System.
  • Australia: the online catalogue of the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney (updated on 1 October 2026) lists 15 plants of wild origin from China, from accessions of 1990, 1993 and 1999, in beds 51a, 51b and 82c, under the name “feng-wei-cao”. Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mount Coot-tha list the species in BGCI PlantSearch.
  • United Kingdom: no British garden lists the species in BGCI PlantSearch or in the online catalogues consulted.

No dated report from a private grower in the United Kingdom or Australia has been published.

Propagation

Cycas guizhouensis is propagated from seed; a male and a female plant are needed for seed. No protocol specific to the species has been published, and no reliable source confirms that it produces offsets in cultivation. Chinese articles of 1995 deal with its propagation and grafting, but only their titles could be checked.

Pests and diseases

No pest or disease specific to Cycas guizhouensis has been documented. Like other Cycas, it can host scale insects, including the Asian cycad scale, Aulacaspis yasumatsui, and suffer from rot in waterlogged soil: a risk known at genus level.

Cold hardiness

The foliage of Cycas guizhouensis stands frost poorly, but the plant can survive −6 °C (21 °F) and grow new leaves. That is what the observations of the Jardin zoologique tropical show, and the few other dated reports are mixed.

On the Mediterranean coast of France, at the Jardin zoologique tropical at La Londe-les-Maures (Var), a plant grown in the ground had its foliage badly marked by a prolonged frost down to −4 °C (24.8 °F); it produced a new crown of leaves the following summer. The same plant survived a minimum of −6 °C (21 °F) in February 2012, but lost all its leaves. That winter the garden recorded −6 °C and snow in January and February 2012, according to an article published on this site about Cycas panzhihuaensis.

Cycas guizhouensis
Foliage of Cycas guizhouensis after a prolonged frost down to −4 °C (24.8 °F)

Elsewhere in Europe, a grower in Saint-Médard-de-Guizières (Gironde, south-west France) reports on the Fous de palmiers forum (August 2018) that Cycas guizhouensis loses its foliage at around −3 to −4 °C (26.6 to 24.8 °F) in persistent frost and is badly affected from −5 to −6 °C (23 to 21.2 °F); he does not date the episode or describe the growing conditions. A grower in Sabaudia (Lazio, Italy) reports on the Tropicamente forum in November 2011 that his Cycas guizhouensis, like his Cycas panzhihuaensis and Cycas diannanensis, had “no problem” with the −7 °C (19.4 °F) of the previous December; he gives neither the size of the plants nor any protection.

In the United States, a publication of Mississippi State University (Maddox and Kelly) rates it USDA zone 8b and says it is “reportedly hardy to about 17°F” (−8.3 °C), without citing a trial. The Juniper Level Botanic Garden, near Raleigh (North Carolina), lists Cycas guizhouensis among the cycads that did not survive its winters in the ground (list published in 2014), whereas the hybrids Cycas revoluta × Cycas guizhouensis and Cycas taitungensis × Cycas guizhouensis survived there without protection at minima of 4 to 9 °F (−15.6 to −12.8 °C).

Toxicity and precautions

No toxicity analysis specific to Cycas guizhouensis is documented, but the risk is well documented in the genus: Cycas tissues, and the seeds above all, contain cycasin, which is converted during digestion into methylazoxymethanol, toxic to the liver and nervous system, along with a neurotoxic amino acid, BMAA. The ASPCA lists the sago palm (Cycas revoluta) among plants poisonous to dogs, cats and horses. Treat the plant as poisonous: keep seeds out of reach of children and pets, wear gloves to handle them and, if any part is swallowed, contact a poison centre, a doctor or a vet straight away.

Traditional uses

Feng, Zheng and Gong (2016) state that the species is collected for its edible stem and for ornament, which has contributed to its decline. The published sources do not describe the preparations; as with other cycads, any consumption requires lengthy detoxification, never to be attempted at home.

Frequently asked questions

Where does Cycas guizhouensis grow?

In China, in south-western Guizhou, eastern Yunnan and north-western Guangxi, mainly in the Nanpan River basin, on limestone slopes and scree.

Is it hardier than Cycas revoluta?

No, according to the French observations. At the Jardin zoologique tropical its foliage suffered from −4 °C (24.8 °F) and was lost entirely at −6 °C (21 °F), but the plant survived and regrew its leaves.

How can it be recognised?

By its narrow leaflets (8 to 12 mm) twisted on the rachis, its petiole without spines at the base and its small size, often without a visible trunk. Its seeds are yellow.

Are Cycas multiovula and Cycas longlinensis synonyms?

It depends on the source. Cycas longlinensis is a synonym. Cycas multiovula is placed under Cycas guizhouensis by Hill (2008) and Species+, but under Cycas diannanensis by The World List of Cycads.

Can it be grown outdoors in the UK?

Not reliably. Its foliage is marked from −4 °C (24.8 °F) and no British in-ground result is known; grow it in a pot and keep it frost-free under glass in winter. In Mediterranean-type climates it can be planted out, accepting leaf loss in cold winters.

Is it endangered?

Yes, it is listed as Vulnerable (2022): many populations have disappeared or have fewer than 50 plants. It is protected in China and covered by CITES.

Is it poisonous?

It must be assumed so. There is no analysis for the species, but all the cycads studied contain serious toxins, especially in the seeds.

Further reading on Succulentes

Sources

Reference sites

Bibliography

  • Lan, K.M. & Zou, R.F. (1983). Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica 21(2): 209–210. [Protologue; reference checked on The World List of Cycads.]
  • Hill, K.D. (2008). The genus Cycas (Cycadaceae) in China. Telopea 12(1): 71–118. doi:10.7751/telopea20085804 [Description, type, synonymy (Cycas multiovula), Chinese names, range, habitat, history and conservation.]
  • Laubenfels, D.J. de & Adema, F. (1998). A taxonomic revision of the genera Cycas and Epicycas gen. nov. (Cycadaceae). Blumea 43(2): 351–400. [Cycas guizhouensis in the synonymy of Cycas szechuanensis.]
  • Chen, C.J. & Stevenson, D.W. (1999). Cycadaceae. In Wu, Z.Y. & Raven, P.H. (eds), Flora of China 4. Science Press, Beijing; Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St Louis. [Cycas guizhouensis under Cycas szechuanensis; online version.]
  • Xiao, L.Q., Ge, X.J., Gong, X., Hao, G. & Zheng, S.X. (2004). ISSR variation in the endemic and endangered plant Cycas guizhouensis (Cycadaceae). Annals of Botany 94(1): 133–138. doi:10.1093/aob/mch119 [12 populations, low diversity.]
  • Liu, J., Zhou, W. & Gong, X. (2015). Species delimitation, genetic diversity and population historical dynamics of Cycas diannanensis (Cycadaceae) occurring sympatrically in the Red River region of China. Frontiers in Plant Science 6: 696. doi:10.3389/fpls.2015.00696 [Cycas multiovula joined to Cycas diannanensis.]
  • Feng, X., Liu, J. & Gong, X. (2016). Species delimitation of the Cycas segmentifida complex (Cycadaceae) resolved by phylogenetic and distance analyses of molecular data. Frontiers in Plant Science 7: 134. doi:10.3389/fpls.2016.00134 [Cycas longlinensis joined to Cycas guizhouensis; You and Nanpan basins.]
  • Feng, X.Y., Zheng, Y. & Gong, X. (2016). Middle-Upper Pleistocene climate changes shaped the divergence and demography of Cycas guizhouensis (Cycadaceae): evidence from DNA sequences and microsatellite markers. Scientific Reports 6: 27368. doi:10.1038/srep27368 [11 populations, diversity, demographic history, threats, lost populations.]
  • Zheng, Y., Liu, J., Feng, X. & Gong, X. (2017). The distribution, diversity, and conservation status of Cycas in China. Ecology and Evolution 7(9): 3212–3224. doi:10.1002/ece3.2910 [Reserves, state of populations.]
  • Bösenberg, J.D. (2022). Cycas guizhouensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T42076A68901944. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T42076A68901944.en [Current assessment (VU); reference checked on Crossref.]
  • Hill, K.D. (2010). Cycas guizhouensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: e.T42076A10620376. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-3.RLTS.T42076A10620376.en [Previous assessment; reference checked on Crossref.]
  • Haynes, J.L. (2022). Etymological compendium of cycad names. Phytotaxa 550(1): 1–31. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.550.1.1 [Etymology; used through The World List of Cycads.]
  • Calonje, M., Stevenson, D.W. & Osborne, R. (2026). The World List of Cycads, version 2026.08.15. Montgomery Botanical Center, Coral Gables. doi:10.5281/zenodo.21958524 [Reference checklist.]