Cycas maconochiei

Cycas maconochiei is a cycad of the north-west of Australia’s Northern Territory, found from the Cox Peninsula, west of Darwin, to the plains south of the Daly River, where it forms vast stands in places in the eucalypt savanna. Described in 1996 by Chirgwin and Ken Hill, this species of the genus Cycas honours the botanist John Maconochie. It is recognised by the thick orange wool that wraps its cataphylls. The World List of Cycads recognises three subspecies: maconochiei, lanata and viridis.

Key facts about Cycas maconochiei

  • Accepted name: Cycas maconochiei Chirgwin & K.D.Hill (1996), accepted by The World List of Cycads (version 2026.08.15) and by the Flora of Australia; POWO could not be consulted directly
  • Subspecies: subsp. maconochiei, subsp. lanata K.D.Hill and subsp. viridis K.D.Hill, all accepted by The World List of Cycads; the Flora of Australia no longer separates lanata, which it places under the typical subspecies
  • Former names and synonyms: no synonym; included in Cycas angulata by de Laubenfels and Adema (1998), a treatment not followed; provisional horticultural names “Cycas sp. Bynoe”, “Fog Bay”, “Cox Peninsula” and “Port Keats”
  • Family: Cycadaceae, order Cycadales
  • Common names: no English common name attested
  • Natural range: Australia, north-western Northern Territory (Cox Peninsula, Fog Bay area, plains south of the Daly River to Port Keats, Fossil Head)
  • IUCN status: Least Concern (LC), confirmed by the reassessment published in 2023; the typical subspecies and subsp. viridis also LC (2023); the Flora of Australia gives Near Threatened (NT, 2022) for the typical subspecies (see Conservation status)
  • CITES and other protection: CITES Appendix II (seeds exempt under annotation #4); Annex B in the European Union
  • Documented hardiness: no data (see Cold hardiness)
  • Light and soil: open eucalypt woodland of Eucalyptus miniata and Eucalyptus tetrodonta, on sand over laterite, usually on flat ground; old beach sands near Fossil Head
  • Habit and adult size: trunk up to 3 m, rarely 7 m, 9 to 15 cm in diameter; leaves 70 to 120 cm long
  • In the UK, US and Australia: Montgomery Botanical Center (Florida) lists subsp. lanata, accessioned from 1997; declared in BGCI by gardens in California, Florida and Hawaii; no British or Australian garden record found
  • Toxicity: no data for the species; treat it as poisonous, like all Cycas (see Toxicity and precautions)

How to recognise Cycas maconochiei

Three features identify it: flat leaves with a short petiole; leaflets with recurved margins, the lowest becoming gradually smaller; and, above all, the abundant orange-brown wool around the cataphylls and the crown. It is this last character that separates it from Cycas arnhemica, according to the Latin diagnosis of the original description. Hill (1996) describes the species as follows:

  • Trunk: up to 3 m tall, rarely 7 m, 9 to 15 cm in diameter.
  • Leaves: 70 to 120 cm long, flat to moderately keeled (opposing leaflets at 130–180°), with 140 to 300 leaflets, mostly ending in a spine; petiole 15 to 33 cm, hairless or with loose orange hairs, more or less spiny, sometimes spineless.
  • Median leaflets: 7 to 17 cm long and 3.5 to 7 mm wide, set at 60–90° and 5 to 10 mm apart, often with orange-brown hairs, more or less glaucous when new, then dull to glossy, dark green or bluish green; margins slightly to strongly recurved; midrib slightly raised above, prominent below.
  • New growth: covered in a loose, dense down of orange and grey hairs.
  • Cataphylls (the scales protecting the growing point): soft, 6 to 8 cm long, wrapped in thick orange wool.
  • Male cones: orange, ovoid, 20 to 34 cm long and 10 to 14 cm wide; apical spine of the microsporophylls slender, sharply upturned, 4 to 8 mm long.
  • Megasporophylls (the fertile leaves of female plants): 20 to 29 cm long, with grey and orange hairs, bearing two to four ovules; blade triangular, 40 to 65 mm by 14 to 24 mm, regularly toothed (20 to 36 teeth 1 to 2 mm long); terminal spine 10 to 20 mm.
  • Seeds: ovoid and flattened, 30 to 36 mm by 27 to 32 mm, green turning orange, slightly glaucous or not; sarcotesta (the fleshy outer layer) about 3 mm thick.

A field report written before the species was described, in June 1987, and reproduced on the wiki of the Palm and Cycad Societies of Australia (PACSOA) from Palms & Cycads no. 27 (1990), gives figures from the Cox Peninsula that are partly larger: leaves averaging 1.10 m, trunks averaging 2.5 m and up to 5 m, some branched and many suckering. These measurements, taken before the species was delimited, are not part of the formal description.

The three subspecies

  • subsp. maconochiei: leaflets 5.5 to 7 mm wide, flat with slightly recurved margins, 8 to 10 mm apart, dull bluish green, often keeping a light orange-brown down; petiole spiny for 70 to 100% of its length. A small area between Fog Bay and Port Darwin, south-west of Darwin.
  • subsp. lanata: narrower leaflets (3.5 to 5.5 mm), somewhat keeled, with strongly recurved margins, closer together (5 to 7 mm), with darker reddish-brown down; very woolly cataphylls. North of the Wingate Mountains and the neighbouring plains to the coast north of Peppimenarti and almost to Port Keats. Plants around Nardirri are clearly smaller.
  • subsp. viridis: leaflets 4 to 5.5 mm wide, glossy mid to dark green, losing their down; petiole spineless or spiny for up to 90% of its length; male cones unknown in 1996. Only around Fossil Head, on sands and old beach sands.

The Flora of Australia, updated according to the Australian Plant Name Index (APNI, November 2025), now recognises only two subspecies and places lanata under the typical subspecies. The World List of Cycads still accepts three. Hill had already noted intermediates between lanata and viridis at Old Mission, near Port Keats.

Hybrids

Hill (1996) mentions an apparent natural hybrid between Cycas armstrongii and Cycas maconochiei, collected in 1993 at Leviathan Creek, on the Fog Bay road, and notes that the typical subspecies forms such hybrids. The Flora of Australia confirms that hybrids between the two species are recorded in the Northern Territory. No hybrid raised in cultivation is documented.

Possible confusion

Four northern Australian Cycas may be confused with it:

  • Cycas arnhemica, from Arnhem Land: same habit and same leaflets with recurved margins, but crown and cataphylls with a short grey and orange down, not woolly;
  • Cycas armstrongii, very common around Darwin: hard, pungent cataphylls, leaflets with flat margins, a slenderer plant;
  • Cycas calcicola, of the same group, a cycad of limestone outcrops in the Northern Territory;
  • Cycas angulata, the largest Australian Cycas, from the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria, in which de Laubenfels and Adema included this species.

Before 1996 the Cox Peninsula plants were variously thought to be a form of Cycas armstrongii, a natural hybrid between Cycas armstrongii and Cycas calcicola, or a relative of Cycas angulata, according to the reports gathered on the PACSOA wiki; the same page lists “Cycas burnsii” as an incorrect name once used for it.

Taxonomy

Cycas maconochiei is a name accepted by The World List of Cycads and by the Flora of Australia; POWO could not be consulted directly. It was published in 1996 in Ken Hill’s revision of the Australian Cycas (Telopea 7(1): 48–49, fig. 22), under the names of Chirgwin, whose morphological studies had shown the complexity of the Northern Territory cycads, and of Hill. The type was collected on 4 September 1993 on the Mandorah road, at the turn-off to Bynoe Harbour (Hill & Anderson 4461; holotype in Sydney, isotypes in Darwin, Beijing and New York).

Hill placed it in series Calcicolosae, with Cycas arenicola, Cycas arnhemica and Cycas calcicola: cycads with soft cataphylls and leaflets with recurved margins, with a continuous layer of cells beneath the epidermis. He noted, however, that the thick orange wool, shared with Cycas lane-poolei and Cycas canalis, might point to a closer relationship with those species. Hill defended a narrow species concept, which he considered preferable to the arbitrary merging of genuinely different populations. De Laubenfels and Adema (1998), with a very broad concept, included this taxon in Cycas angulata; current checklists do not follow that treatment.

Etymology and history

The epithet honours John R. Maconochie (1941–1984), a Northern Territory government botanist who had begun a full revision of the genus Cycas. According to Hill his work was tragically cut short, but his notes and specimens were of great help to the 1996 revision. The subspecies epithets are Latin: lanata, “woolly”, for the very hairy cataphylls, and viridis, “green”, for the bright green leaves.

The plant was in cultivation before it was described, under provisional names taken from localities: “Cycas sp. Bynoe”, “Bynoe Harbour”, “Fog Bay” or “Cox Peninsula” for the typical subspecies, “Port Keats” for lanata (Hill 1996). According to the PACSOA wiki, the first news of the “Bynoe/Cox Peninsula” cycad came from an enthusiast in South Africa who had received seed labelled “Cox Peninsula”.

Common names

No English common name is attested. The only names in use that were found are the provisional horticultural names given above, and the sources consulted give no Aboriginal name. The plant is therefore known by its scientific name.

In the wild

Cycas maconochiei occupies the north-west of the Northern Territory in two separate blocks: a population around the Cox Peninsula, west of Darwin (typical subspecies), and a very large disjunct area south of the Daly River, towards the coast, where lanata grows, with viridis around Fossil Head. Hill also cites collections of the typical subspecies from Melville Island, at Pularumpi (Garden Point).

The typical subspecies grows in open woodland on flat ground, dominated by Eucalyptus miniata and Eucalyptus tetrodonta, on sandy soil over Tertiary laterite, and is locally very abundant. Subspecies lanata, mainly on sandy soils, is widespread and abundant: Hill estimated its total population at several tens of millions of plants. Subspecies viridis is scattered and locally abundant on sands and old beach sands around Fossil Head. The 1987 field report on the PACSOA wiki describes plants growing just behind the beach on the Cox Peninsula, in sandy grey-brown soil under Pandanus, Eucalyptus and Planchonia, with about 1,500 mm of rain a year, in groups favouring damper spots near large shade trees; a note attributed to Chirgwin on the same page adds that the plants reach the high-tide mark, often in swampy places, and often carry a local orchid, Dendrobium affine.

Pollinators and seed dispersers are not documented for this species. Hill notes that over-frequent fires prevent reproduction, a problem shared by several savanna cycads of northern Australia.

Conservation status and regulation

The species is listed as Least Concern (LC). The World List of Cycads still cites Ken Hill’s 2010 assessment; the reassessment by Ottley, Clugston and Liddle, published in version 2023-1 of the Red List, keeps this category, according to the Red List data relayed by GBIF (consulted on 18 October 2026). The subspecies, which The World List of Cycads shows as “not evaluated”, were in fact assessed as early as 2010 (Crossref); in 2023 the typical subspecies (Liddle and Clugston) and subsp. viridis (Bösenberg) were listed as Least Concern, and the Red List places lanata under the typical subspecies. The Flora of Australia, however, gives “Near Threatened (NT), 2022” for the typical subspecies, and no matching assessment has been found. The Red List itself could not be consulted, so this discrepancy remains to be checked at source.

In 1996 Hill considered the species not threatened in the medium term because of its abundance, although no population was protected. He listed three threats to the typical subspecies, close to Darwin: collection of seeds and plants, over-frequent fires, which stop reproduction, and uncontrolled urban development, which destroys part of the habitat. Subspecies lanata and viridis grow almost entirely on Aboriginal land.

Like every species in the genus except Cycas beddomei, Cycas maconochiei is listed in CITES Appendix II, through the listing of the family Cycadaceae, included since 4 February 1977. The listing carries annotation #4 (CoP20 version, in force since 5 March 2026): seeds, pollen, seedlings or tissue cultures obtained in vitro and transported in sterile containers, and cut flowers of artificially propagated plants, are exempt, whereas international trade in the plants themselves requires an export permit. Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States apply CITES through their own national legislation; in the European Union the species is in Annex B of Regulation (EC) No 338/97, whose annexes in force are set by Commission Regulation (EU) 2026/1383, applicable since 29 June 2026. Species+, the official CITES database, names the species and confirms this status (searches of 3 and 12 October 2026).

This general information does not replace the official texts: check the rules in force before buying or exchanging plants, ask the seller for proof of origin and prefer plants raised from cultivated seed.

Growing Cycas maconochiei

In short: the species has been grown since before it was described, under horticultural locality names (Hill 1996), and a few American botanic gardens list it, but no growing advice specific to it has been published. The only practical guidance found comes from a French specialist nurseryman, who rates it among the most difficult Australian Cycas to grow outside a very particular climate. Its habitat, open woodland on sand (Hill 1996), suggests a plant for full sun and a very free-draining mix; this is a deduction, not a published growing result.

Outdoor and in-ground cultivation

Only frost-free tropical and near-tropical climates can be considered. The Montgomery Botanical Center, at Coral Gables in Florida, whose collection is grown outdoors, lists subspecies lanata under accessions dating back to 1997 (see below), but no planting result has been published there or elsewhere.

In a 2021 note on growing Australian Cycas in a European climate, the French nurseryman Simon Lavaud (Cycadales.eu) classes every species from the Northern Territory except Cycas angulata as “very difficult”, and calls Cycas maconochiei a magnificent species but very hard to grow outside a very specific climate. He also reports the Australian grower Bret Dalziel’s view that Northern Territory cycads are temperamental even in the subtropical climate of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

Container cultivation

In temperate climates it needs a heated glasshouse. For Australian Cycas as a group, Lavaud recommends a mix with a high mineral content, full sun or the brightest place in the glasshouse, and generous watering only in warm weather (nights of 18–20 °C, or 64.4–68 °F, and days of 30 °C, or 86 °F), reduced below 20 °C (68 °F) and stopped when nights fall below 10 °C (50 °F), as watering in cool conditions carries a very high risk of root rot; in his lightly heated glasshouses he stops watering from November to March or April. This is general advice for the group, not a documented trial on this species.

The only European grower’s report found is a failure: on the French Fous de palmiers forum, a grower based in Belley (Ain) and Montpellier (Hérault) said in March 2013 that he had grown the species before and lost his plants at a time when he had no experience of Australian cycads, without giving their age or growing conditions. The Jardin zoologique tropical at La Londe-les-Maures, in the south of France, has published no observation on this species.

In cultivation in the UK, US and Australia

In the United States, the online catalogue of Montgomery Botanical Center (Florida) lists Cycas maconochiei subsp. lanata under seventeen accession numbers: sixteen numbered from 97948 to 97968, which by the garden’s numbering date from 1997, and 20140191, from 2014 (search of 21 October 2026); the catalogue does not say how many plants are still alive. In BGCI PlantSearch (search of 21 October 2026), subsp. lanata is also declared by the San Diego Botanic Garden (Encinitas, California) and the San Diego Zoo Botanical Gardens, and the species by Pinecrest Gardens (Florida) and the botanical garden of the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo; a BGCI entry shows that a garden has declared a plant, not that it is alive today, and these sources do not say whether the plants grow outdoors or under glass.

No British garden declares the species, and none of the Australian sources checked for this site (BGCI PlantSearch and the online catalogues of the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, Mount Annan and the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, inventory of 19 October 2026) records it, even though the species is Australian. No report from an English-speaking grower could be read; PalmTalk and Dave’s Garden could not be consulted.

Propagation

The plant is dioecious: a male and a female plant are needed to obtain fertile seed. No germination data specific to the species have been published. Seeds are exempt from CITES under annotation #4; ask for seed from cultivated plants.

Pests and diseases

No pest or disease specific to the species is documented. Cycad scale insects, including the Asian cycad scale, Aulacaspis yasumatsui, can attack all cultivated species.

Cold hardiness

No cold-tolerance data exist for Cycas maconochiei, a cycad of the tropical savannas of the north-western Northern Territory, and nothing allows us to say that it tolerates frost. The British nursery Trebrown rates it USDA zone 9b (average annual minimum of −3.9 to −1.1 °C, or 25 to 30 °F), a commercial rating not backed by growing observations.

Mediterranean experience

No growing result has been published in Europe, in the ground or in a pot, and no dated frost event concerns the species. The only report from the south of France is the loss of plants mentioned in 2013, with no information on conditions or cold; the Jardin zoologique tropical in the Var has published nothing on it. Readers in comparable climates, such as California or southern Australia, have no European result to go on.

United Kingdom, United States and Australia

No cold reading or dated growing report was found, either on forums or from botanic gardens; the American gardens that list it, in southern Florida, coastal southern California and Hawaii, have published no observation. In the UK, and in most of the United States and Australia outside the tropics, it is a plant for a heated glasshouse.

Toxicity and precautions

No toxicity analysis specific to Cycas maconochiei has been found, 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) as poisonous to dogs, cats and horses. Until proven otherwise, treat the plant as poisonous: keep seeds and leaves out of reach of children and pets, and wear gloves to clean the seeds. If any part is swallowed, contact a poison centre, a doctor or a vet straight away.

Traditional uses

No use of this species is documented in the sources consulted.

Frequently asked questions

Who was Maconochie?

John R. Maconochie (1941–1984) was a Northern Territory botanist who had begun a revision of the genus Cycas; his notes were used by Hill for the 1996 revision.

Where does Cycas maconochiei grow?

In the north-west of Australia’s Northern Territory: the Cox Peninsula near Darwin, the plains south of the Daly River to Port Keats, and Fossil Head.

How many subspecies does it have?

Three according to The World List of Cycads (maconochiei, lanata, viridis); only two according to the Flora of Australia, which places lanata under the typical subspecies.

How can it be told from Cycas arnhemica?

By the thick orange wool on the cataphylls and the crown; Cycas arnhemica has only a short grey and orange down.

What is “Cycas sp. Bynoe”?

A provisional horticultural name used before 1996 for the typical subspecies, from the Bynoe Harbour area near Darwin.

Is it endangered?

No. The species is listed as Least Concern, confirmed by the 2023 reassessment, as are the typical subspecies and subsp. viridis. The Flora of Australia, however, gives Near Threatened (NT, 2022) for the typical subspecies, which grows close to Darwin.

Can it be grown outdoors in the UK or in a Mediterranean climate?

Almost certainly not in the UK. There are no cold data, it lives in the tropical savannas of northern Australia, and the nurseryman Simon Lavaud finds it very hard to grow outside a very specific climate. Even in mild climates, a heated glasshouse is the prudent choice.

Is it poisonous?

It must be assumed so. No analysis exists for the species, but all the cycads studied contain dangerous toxins, especially in the seeds.

Further reading on Succulentes

Sources

Reference sites

Bibliography

  • Hill, K.D. (1996). A taxonomic revision of the genus Cycas (Cycadaceae) in Australia. Telopea 7(1): 1–64. doi:10.7751/telopea19963040 [Original description of the species and of subspecies lanata and viridis (pp. 48–52), series Calcicolosae, hybrids; reference revision for Australia; full text consulted.]
  • Hill, K.D. (1998). Cycadaceae. In: McCarthy, P.M. (ed.), Flora of Australia 48: 597–635. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne. [Consulted in its updated online version (profiles.ala.org.au).]
  • Laubenfels, D.J. de & Adema, F. (1998). A taxonomic revision of the genera Cycas and Epicycas gen. nov. (Cycadaceae). Blumea 43(2): 351–400. [Very broad species concepts; cited after The World List of Cycads and the Flora of Australia.]
  • Dixon, D. (2004). A review of the Gymnosperms of the Northern Territory. The Beagle 20: 1–24. [Cited by The World List of Cycads and the Flora of Australia; not consulted.]
  • Hill, K.D. (2010). Cycas maconochiei. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T42027A10630516. [Red List assessment; reference found on The World List of Cycads and Crossref, Red List page not consulted (access blocked).]
  • Ottley, H., Clugston, J. & Liddle, D. (2023). Cycas maconochiei. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T42027A68903755. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T42027A68903755.en [Reassessment (version 2023-1); reference checked on Crossref, category LC relayed by GBIF, page not consulted (access blocked).]
  • Liddle, D. & Clugston, J. (2023). Cycas maconochiei subsp. maconochiei. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T216110484A68904164. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T216110484A68904164.en [Reassessment of the typical subspecies; reference checked on Crossref, category LC relayed by GBIF; page not consulted.]
  • Bösenberg, J.D. (2023). Cycas maconochiei subsp. viridis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T42025A68904376. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T42025A68904376.en [Reassessment of subsp. viridis; reference checked on Crossref, category LC relayed by GBIF; page not consulted.]
  • Haynes, J.L. (2022). Etymological compendium of cycad names. Phytotaxa 550(1): 1–31. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.550.1.1 [Source of the etymologies given by The World List of Cycads; not consulted directly.]
  • 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; consulted directly.]