Cycas multipinnata

Cycas multipinnata is a cycad of the forests on limestone in the Red River valley, in south-eastern Yunnan (China) and northern Vietnam. It is one of the most astonishing species in the genus Cycas: its trunk stays almost entirely underground, yet it carries only one or two giant leaves, 2 to 7 m long depending on the source, whose leaflets are themselves divided and branched. Known for decades, the plant was not described until 1994, by the Chinese botanists C.J. Chen and S.Y. Yang. De Laubenfels and Adema moved it in 1998 to the genus Epicycas, as Epicycas multipinnata, now a synonym. The IUCN lists it as Critically Endangered, mainly because of collection for the horticultural trade.

Key facts about Cycas multipinnata

  • Accepted name: Cycas multipinnata C.J.Chen & S.Y.Yang (1994), 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: Epicycas multipinnata (C.J.Chen & S.Y.Yang) de Laub. (1998); the Flora of China also places Cycas longipetiolula D.Y.Wang in synonymy, whereas Hill (2008) regards it as a hybrid with Cycas bifida
  • Family: Cycadaceae, order Cycadales; section Stangerioides (Hill 2008)
  • Common names: no traditional English name; in Chinese 多歧苏铁 (duo qi su tie, “multipinnate cycad”) and dujuetie (“one-leaf cycad”); “royal sago” is a nursery trade name (see Common names)
  • Natural range: China (south-eastern Yunnan, Red River valley) and northern Vietnam (Yen Bai province; also Tuyen Quang according to Gong and colleagues 2015)
  • IUCN status: Critically Endangered (CR); reassessment by T.H. Nguyen and Y.-Q. Gong published in version 2023-1 of the Red List, after that of 2010 (criteria A2acd+4acd)
  • CITES and other protection: CITES Appendix II (seeds exempt under annotation #4); Annex B in the European Union; first-class protected plant in China
  • Documented hardiness: no measured value; at the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley it needs greenhouse care (see Cold hardiness)
  • Light and soil: in the wild, shaded evergreen or monsoon forest on very steep limestone slopes, sometimes on red soil over granite, from 200 to 1,100 m
  • Habit and adult size: almost underground trunk 14 to 25 cm across; one or two leaves 2 to 7 m long, including a petiole of 1 to 3.5 m
  • In the UK, US and Australia: UC Berkeley (under glass), The Huntington, Sonoma Botanical Garden, The New York Botanical Garden and others in the United States; Cairns Botanic Gardens and the University of Melbourne System Garden in Australia (BGCI); no British garden found
  • Toxicity: no data specific to the species; treat it as poisonous, like all Cycas (see Toxicity and precautions)

How to recognise Cycas multipinnata

An adult plant is unmistakable: no other cycad carries so few leaves, so long and so finely cut. Its leaves are divided several times, and only Cycas debaoensis has leaves of comparable structure (Hill 2008). The description below follows Ken Hill’s revision of the Cycas of China (2008), supplemented by the Flora of China (Chen and Stevenson 1999):

  • Trunk: no aerial trunk or almost none, 14 to 25 cm across at the narrowest point; the Flora of China gives an above-ground part up to 40 cm tall and 20 cm across, with grey-brown, scaly bark.
  • Leaves: one or two per plant, dark green and very glossy, 2 to 6 m long according to Hill, 3 to 7 m long and 60 to 100 cm wide according to the Flora of China; covered at first in a white felt that falls as the leaf expands.
  • Petiole: very long, 1 to 3.5 m (50 to 65% of the leaf) according to Hill, 1.5 to 2.5 m according to the Flora of China; spiny for almost its whole length.
  • Leaflets: 14 to 36 primary leaflets according to Hill (12 to 22 pairs according to the Flora of China), 35 to 60 cm long, themselves divided into segments that fork several times; the final segments, obovate-linear, measure 7 to 12 cm by 1 to 2 cm according to the Flora of China, and are thin, flat or slightly wavy-edged, with a short, non-pungent point.
  • Cataphylls (the scales protecting the growing point): narrow, soft and hairy, 4 to 6 cm long.
  • Male cones: spindle-shaped, cream, 25 to 40 cm by 6 to 8 cm according to Hill (15 to 23 cm by 4 to 6 cm according to the Flora of China), with soft microsporophylls lacking an apical spine.
  • Megasporophylls (the fertile leaves of female plants): 11 to 13 cm according to Hill, 8 to 12 cm according to the Flora of China, with brown felt and 2 to 6 hairless ovules (Hill); the blade is ovate and deeply comb-like, with 20 to 22 soft lateral spines according to Hill, or 25 to 35 awl-shaped lobes according to the Flora of China.
  • Seeds: ovoid, slightly flattened, about 2.5 cm according to Hill, 2.5 to 3.2 cm according to the Flora of China, greenish to yellowish; the fleshy outer layer (sarcotesta) is yellow and thin (2 mm), without a fibrous layer; the woody shell is finely warty; there is no spongy layer.

The two sources do not describe the leaf in the same way: Hill calls it bipinnate, the Flora of China tripinnate, because the secondary leaflets branch two to five more times. The chromosome number is 2n = 22 (Gong and colleagues 2015).

Hill and the Flora of China describe an almost underground trunk with one or two leaves.

Hybrids

Yes, in the wild. Hill (2008) observes that Cycas multipinnata appears to grow together with Cycas bifida in several populations in Yunnan, where a series of intermediate forms can be interpreted as a hybrid swarm. He cites two collections of these hybrids: in the valley of the Yuanjiang river, Gejiu district (1994), and between Lianhuatang and Makayihe, on the border between the Hekou and Gejiu districts (2000). The first is the type of Cycas longipetiolula, a name Hill excludes for that reason. No hybrid raised in cultivation is documented.

Possible confusion

An adult plant is recognised at a glance; confusion mostly concerns young plants and those in the trade:

  • Cycas debaoensis, from western Guangxi, also has leaves divided several times, but more of them (3 to 15) and shorter (up to 3 m); Cycas multipinnata differs in its broader, thinner leaflets, widest above the middle, and its smaller megasporophylls (Hill 2008).
  • Cycas bifida, from Guangxi and north-eastern Vietnam, has leaflets forked near the base (Hill 2008).
  • Cycas multifrondis, accepted by The World List of Cycads, belongs to the same group; Hill (2008) saw its type as an intermediate form between Cycas bifida and Cycas dolichophylla.
  • Cycas micholitzii, from central Vietnam and southern Laos, is another Cycas of the same section with forked leaflets.

Mistakes are a real risk in the trade: on the French forum Fous de palmiers, a grower reports in January 2020 that his plant, bought young under this name, had produced leaves over a metre long within a few years without ever a single divided leaflet, and concludes that it was not this species.

Taxonomy

Cycas multipinnata is accepted by The World List of Cycads; the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), on which POWO is based, also accepts it (consulted through GBIF on 31 October 2026). The species was described by C.J. Chen and S.Y. Yang in 1994 in Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica (32(3): 239, 480–481), from a specimen collected by S.Y. Yang in April 1987 in the south of Jianshui district, Yunnan, near the Red River, at 1,100 m (no. 9202, holotype at the herbarium of the Institute of Botany in Beijing, PE).

In their revision of the genus, de Laubenfels and Adema (1998) created the genus Epicycas for several Asian species and transferred this plant to it as Epicycas multipinnata. The genus has not been followed: The World List of Cycads and Hill (2008) keep the species in Cycas, and Epicycas multipinnata is now only a synonym. For the reader, the two names refer to the same plant.

Hill (2008) places the species in section Stangerioides, the group of Sino-Vietnamese cycads with an underground trunk, small soft male cones, a sarcotesta without a fibrous layer and a warty seed shell. The Flora of China (Chen and Stevenson 1999) lists Cycas longipetiolula D.Y.Wang among the synonyms of the species; Hill instead interprets the type of that name as a hybrid with Cycas bifida (see Hybrids).

Etymology and history

The epithet comes from the Latin multi-, “many”, and pinnatus, “feathered, pinnate”, in reference to the leaflets that branch several times (Hill 2008; Haynes 2022).

According to Hill (2008), this remarkable plant had been known for several decades but was recognised as a distinct species and published only in 1994. The Flora of China (1999) considered it, with Cycas debaoensis, the most singular of all living cycads because of its repeatedly divided leaves.

Common names

There is no traditional English name. In Chinese, the Flora of China calls it 多歧苏铁 (duo qi su tie), “multipinnate cycad”; Hill (2008) also gives dujuetie, “one-leaf cycad”, a reference to its very small number of leaves. The British nursery Trebrown lists it as “royal sago”, a trade name.

In the wild

Cycas multipinnata lives in the region of the Red River (Yuanjiang in China, Song Hong in Vietnam). The World List of Cycads gives Yunnan and the Vietnamese province of Yen Bai; Gong and colleagues (2015) add Tuyen Quang province, and Hill (2008) also reported a population in western Guangxi, which current checklists do not repeat. In Yunnan, the Flora of China cites it in the districts of Gejiu, Hekou, Mengzi and Pingbian.

Everywhere it grows in closed evergreen forest on limestone, on very steep slopes (Hill 2008). The Flora of China describes somewhat shaded monsoon forest along valleys, on red soil over granite or limestone, between 200 and 1,000 m; the type was collected at 1,100 m. Pollination takes place in April and May and the seeds ripen in October and November (Flora of China).

The populations are few and strongly differentiated. The genetic study by Gong and colleagues (2015), carried out by researchers from Yunnan University and the Kunming Institute of Botany with Vietnamese colleagues, covered six populations: four in Yunnan, one of them cultivated in a village because the neighbouring wild habitat had been completely destroyed, and two in northern Vietnam. It distinguishes two genetic groups, one Chinese and one Vietnamese, separated in the Pleistocene and poorly connected since, and a decline in numbers over the last 50,000 years, perhaps linked to glaciations and made worse today by human activity.

Conservation status and regulation

Cycas multipinnata is listed as Critically Endangered (CR). The World List of Cycads cites the assessment by Nguyen (2010), which used criteria A2acd+4acd; the reassessment by T.H. Nguyen and Y.-Q. Gong, published in 2023 (version 2023-1 of the Red List), keeps the CR category, according to the Red List dataset distributed by GBIF (version of July 2026). These data do not give its criteria. An earlier assessment (Donaldson 2003) listed the species as Endangered.

The threats are habitat destruction, through clearing for agriculture, and over-collection for the ornamental plant trade. As early as 1999, the Flora of China counted it among the most threatened cycads in the country and feared it could disappear from the wild within about ten years without protection; Hill (2008) described the Chinese population of the Red River as already heavily depleted. In China it is a first-class protected plant (Gong and colleagues 2015). These authors recommend managing each population as a separate conservation unit and building up a genetic bank as diverse as possible.

Like every species of the genus except Cycas beddomei, Cycas multipinnata falls under CITES Appendix II, where the family Cycadaceae has been listed since 4 February 1977. The listing carries annotation #4 (CoP20 version, in force since 5 March 2026): seeds, pollen, seedlings and tissue cultures obtained in vitro and transported in sterile containers, and cut flowers of artificially propagated plants, are not covered by CITES, whereas international trade in the plants themselves requires an export permit. In the European Union the species falls under Annex B of Regulation (EC) No 338/97, whose annexes in force are set by Regulation (EU) 2026/1383, applicable since 29 June 2026. Species+, the official CITES database, lists the species with its synonym Epicycas multipinnata and confirms this status (consulted on 12 October 2026).

This general information does not replace the official texts: check the regulations in force before any purchase or exchange, ask the seller for proof of origin and prefer plants raised from seed in cultivation, since collection from the wild is the main threat to the species.

Growing Cycas multipinnata

Cycas multipinnata is sought after by collectors for its foliage, but it is rare in cultivation, and none of the institutions consulted has published growing advice specific to the species. The University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley, where many cycads grow outdoors, counts it among those “not fully hardy” in the San Francisco Bay Area and keeps it in a greenhouse (Plant Collections Network, 2015). Its natural habitat, the understorey of evergreen or monsoon forest on limestone and red soil in tropical valleys, suggests a plant for partial shade, kept warm, in a very free-draining mix and sheltered from wind, which would tear the huge leaves: these are deductions from its habitat, not rules tested in cultivation.

Outdoor and in-ground cultivation

No in-ground result has been published. The growing reports found are mostly failures. On the Fous de palmiers forum, a grower in Agen (Lot-et-Garonne, south-west France) reports in June 2011 that his Cycas multipinnata died, its caudex having rotted, without describing the growing conditions. On the Italian forum Tropicamente, a grower whose locality is not given reports in March 2009 that he had tried the Chinese cycads several times, this one included, always with disappointing results. Rot of the underground trunk, encouraged by a substrate that stays wet, is the main risk for cycads of this group.

Container cultivation

In the United Kingdom and in most of the United States and southern Australia, a pot in a heated glasshouse or conservatory is the realistic option, as at Berkeley; use a very free-draining mix and water sparingly in winter.

In cultivation in the UK, US and Australia

The species is rare in public collections. 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 University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley keeps it under glass (Plant Collections Network, 2015). BGCI PlantSearch adds The Huntington (San Marino, California), Sonoma Botanical Garden (California), The New York Botanical Garden, Pinecrest Gardens (Florida) and the University of Minnesota conservatory. It is not in the online catalogues of Montgomery Botanical Center or Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.
  • Australia: Cairns Botanic Gardens (Queensland) and the System Garden of the University of Melbourne list it in BGCI PlantSearch; it is not in the online catalogue of the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.
  • United Kingdom: no garden declares Cycas multipinnata in BGCI PlantSearch.

No growing report has been published on English-language forums. The Jardin zoologique tropical at La Londe-les-Maures, in the south of France, has published no observation on this species.

Propagation

The plant is dioecious: a male and a female plant are needed to obtain seed. The Flora of China gives 6 to 10 seeds per female cone, ripe in October and November. No germination data specific to the species have been published. Gong and colleagues (2015) point out that cycads can also be propagated vegetatively, from basal offsets, and suggest collecting offsets or seeds from as many populations as possible for conservation collections. Seeds are exempt from CITES under annotation #4: choose seeds or plants raised in cultivation.

Pests and diseases

No pest or disease specific to the species is documented. Cycad scales, including Aulacaspis yasumatsui, can attack any cultivated species. Caudex rot is the only problem reported for this species in cultivation (see Growing).

Cold hardiness

No measured cold-tolerance value has been published for Cycas multipinnata. The species lives in the tropical and subtropical valleys of the Red River, between about 200 and 1,100 m, and no source supports the idea that it tolerates frost. The University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley keeps it under glass, describing it as not fully hardy in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The British nursery Trebrown rates it USDA zone 9b, that is average annual minima of −3.9 to −1.1 °C (25 to 30 °F); this is a commercial rating, which the nursery applies to many Cycas, and is not backed by growing observations. No dated cold report is documented in Europe, North America or Australia: the only reports, from Agen (2011) and Italy (2009), are failures without a recorded temperature. In the United Kingdom, keep it frost-free under glass.

Toxicity and precautions

No toxicity data specific to Cycas multipinnata have been published, but the risk is documented for the genus: in Cycas, all parts of the plant are poisonous and the seeds most of all. They contain cycasin, which is converted in the body into methylazoxymethanol, toxic to the liver and nervous system, along with a neurotoxic amino acid, BMAA (NC State Extension; ASPCA). The ASPCA lists the sago palm (Cycas revoluta) as toxic to dogs, cats and horses.

In the absence of evidence to the contrary, treat the plant as poisonous: keep seeds and leaves out of reach of children and pets, and wear gloves to clean seeds. If any part is swallowed, contact a poison centre, a doctor or a vet straight away.

Traditional uses

No traditional use specific to this species is documented. The only known use is commercial: plants collected in the wild are sold as ornamentals, which is the main cause of its decline (Flora of China; Gong and colleagues 2015).

Frequently asked questions

What makes Cycas multipinnata unique?

Its leaves: only one or two per plant, 2 to 7 m long depending on the source, with a petiole that can exceed 3 m and leaflets branched several times. Only Cycas debaoensis has leaves of comparable structure, but more numerous and shorter.

What does multipinnata mean?

“Many times pinnate”, in Latin: the name describes the divided, branching leaflets.

Where does it grow in the wild?

In the Red River valley, in south-eastern Yunnan (China) and northern Vietnam, in evergreen forest on very steep limestone slopes, between 200 and 1,100 m.

Is it endangered?

Yes, seriously. It is listed as Critically Endangered (CR), a category confirmed by the reassessment published in 2023, because of forest destruction and collection for the ornamental trade; in China it has first-class protection.

Are Epicycas multipinnata and Cycas longipetiolula the same plant?

For Epicycas multipinnata, yes: it is a synonym from a genus no longer used. For Cycas longipetiolula, the sources differ: the Flora of China treats it as a synonym, while Hill sees a hybrid with Cycas bifida.

Does it have a tall trunk?

No. Despite what some descriptions claim, its trunk is almost entirely underground; the Flora of China gives an above-ground part of 40 cm at most.

Is it poisonous?

It should be assumed to be. It has not been analysed, but all Cycas studied contain serious toxins, especially in the seeds.

Further reading on Succulentes

Sources

Reference sites

Bibliography

  • Chen, C.J. & Yang, S.Y. (1994). Cycas multipinnata C.J.Chen & S.Y.Yang. Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica 32(3): 239, 480–481. [Protologue; reference taken from The World List of Cycads.]
  • Chen, C.J. & Stevenson, D.W. (1999). Cycadaceae. In: Wu, Z.Y. & Raven, P.H. (eds), Flora of China, vol. 4: 1–7. Science Press, Beijing; Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St Louis. [Description, habitat, altitudes, phenology and threats; text consulted on eFloras.]
  • Hill, K.D. (2008). The genus Cycas (Cycadaceae) in China. Telopea 12(1): 71–118. doi:10.7751/telopea20085804 [Description (pp. 104–105), range, hybrids with Cycas bifida, section Stangerioides, Chinese names, status.]
  • Gong, Y.-Q., Zhan, Q.-Q., Nguyen, K.S., Nguyen, H.T., Wang, Y.-H. & Gong, X. (2015). The historical demography and genetic variation of the endangered Cycas multipinnata (Cycadaceae) in the Red River region, examined by chloroplast DNA sequences and microsatellite markers. PLOS ONE 10(2): e0117719. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0117719 [Populations studied, genetic groups, decline, first-class protection in China, conservation recommendations; peer-reviewed article.]
  • Laubenfels, D.J. de & Adema, F. (1998). A taxonomic revision of the genera Cycas and Epicycas gen. nov. (Cycadaceae). Blumea 43(2): 351–400. [Combination Epicycas multipinnata; reference taken from The World List of Cycads and Hill 2008.]
  • Nguyen, H.T. (2010). Cycas multipinnata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: e.T42048A10637701. [CR assessment; reference taken from The World List of Cycads.]
  • Nguyen, T.H. & Gong, Y.-Q. (2023). Cycas multipinnata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T42048A68906269. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T42048A68906269.en [Reassessment; reference checked on Crossref, CR category according to GBIF.]
  • Haynes, J.L. (2022). Etymological compendium of cycad names. Phytotaxa 550(1): 1–31. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.550.1.1 [Etymology taken up by 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.]