Zamia huilensis

Zamia huilensis is a trunk-forming cycad of Colombia, endemic to the foothills of the Cordillera Oriental in the department of Huila, where it grows between 1,000 and 1,750 m in small remnants of forest. This species of the genus Zamia was described in 2012, after the rediscovery of populations that had not been collected since 1945; it is known locally as “palma de monte”. The IUCN rates it Endangered.

Key facts about Zamia huilensis

  • Accepted name: Zamia huilensis Calonje, H.E.Esquivel & D.W.Stev. (2012), accepted by The World List of Cycads (version 2026.08.15) and by GBIF; POWO could not be consulted directly
  • Former names and synonyms: no synonym; two old collections from Algeciras were referred to Zamia poeppigiana by Stevenson (2001, 2004)
  • Family: Zamiaceae, order Cycadales
  • Common names: “palma de monte” (Spanish, municipality of Hobo, Huila); no English name
  • Natural range: Colombia, department of Huila (municipalities of Algeciras, Garzón and Hobo; also collected at Pitalito)
  • IUCN status: Endangered (EN B1ab(iii,v)+2ab(iii,v)), 2022 assessment; Critically Endangered proposed by its authors in 2012
  • CITES and other protection: CITES Appendix II (whole genus, since 1977; seeds exempt under annotation #4); Annex B in the European Union
  • Documented hardiness: no cultivation data; in its habitat, temperatures of 13 to 30 °C (55.4 to 86 °F), annual mean 18 to 23 °C (64.4 to 73.4 °F) (see Cold hardiness)
  • Light and soil: understorey of humid premontane forest, on slopes of 25 to 60°, dark, slightly sandy soils over granite, covered in humus
  • Habit and adult size: upright stem up to 110 cm tall and 7 to 12 cm wide, sometimes branched; up to 17 leaves up to 160 cm long
  • In the UK, US and Australia: no record; BGCI lists it only in two Colombian botanical gardens
  • Toxicity: no data specific to the species; treat it as poisonous, like all cycads (see Toxicity and precautions)

How to recognise Zamia huilensis

According to the original description (Calonje and colleagues, 2012, Caldasia), it is a trunk-forming Zamia: the aerial stem, globose to cylindrical and upright, reaches 110 cm in height and 7 to 12 cm in width; it is usually solitary, sometimes branched. It carries up to 17 straight to slightly arching leaves, up to 160 cm long, with a petiole of up to 53 cm, sparsely to moderately armed with prickles 2 mm long, and a rachis up to 116 cm long.

The leaflets, up to 21 pairs, are leathery, linear-lanceolate with a long, tapering tip, straight to slightly sickle-shaped, light green when they emerge and then bright, glossy green. The margin bears 20 to 60 teeth over the upper half to two thirds; the median leaflets measure 16 to 30 cm by 3.8 to 5.2 cm. The male cones, 2 to 6 per stem, reach 14 by 3 cm and are covered in a yellowish beige felt. The female cones, one or two, upright and cylindrical, 10 to 30 cm by 7 to 11 cm, turn from yellowish beige to green when ripe and sit on a short stalk of 2 to 5 cm. The seeds have a bright orange fleshy coat and measure 2.5 to 3.2 cm.

Hybrids

No hybrid has been documented.

Possible confusion

The original description compares it with two species:

  • Zamia muricata, given by the authors as native to Venezuela and north-eastern Colombia, with similarly shaped leaflets: an underground stem, dark brown to black female cones on long stalks (16 to 28 cm), and the sporangia of the male scales in two groups (a single group in Zamia huilensis). In 2012 the name still covered, following Stevenson (2001, 2004), the plants at the foot of the Eastern Cordillera on the Llanos side; Calonje and colleagues separated these in 2022 as Zamia orinoquiensis, and Zamia muricata is now restricted to Venezuela and the Serranía de Macuira, in La Guajira (The World List of Cycads);
  • Zamia tolimensis, of neighbouring Tolima, with comparable reproductive organs: a much larger plant, with strongly sickle-shaped leaflets toothed only on the upper half.

Zamia poeppigiana, under which old collections from Huila had been placed, is a much larger species of the Amazonian forests of Peru; according to the authors, it does not occur in Colombia and can hardly be confused with it. Montgomery Botanical Center, which took part in the rediscovery, also compared the new species with Zamia tolimensis and Zamia muricata when announcing it in 2012.

Taxonomy

Zamia huilensis is an accepted name according to The World List of Cycads and GBIF; POWO could not be consulted directly. It was described in December 2012 in the Colombian journal Caldasia (34: 283–290) by Michael Calonje, Héctor E. Esquivel, Gustavo Morales, Yeison A. Mora-Lizcano and Dennis W. Stevenson; the name is attributed to Calonje, Esquivel and Stevenson. The type specimen (H.E. Esquivel et al. 3791) was collected on 16 January 2012 at Garzón, between 1,100 and 1,200 m; the holotype is kept at the TOLI herbarium of the University of Tolima, with isotypes in nine herbaria (COL, CUVC, FAUC, HUA, HUAZ, HUQ, JAUM, SURCO and TOLI).

Before this work, only three collections of Zamia were known from Huila: that of the German naturalist Friedrich Carl Lehmann near Altamira in 1896, and two others near Algeciras by the American botanists Francis R. Fosberg in 1942 and Elbert L. Little Jr. in 1945, who were searching for wild cinchona trees for quinine production. Stevenson (2001, 2004) had placed the last two under Zamia poeppigiana. For the reader, this means that older records of Zamia poeppigiana in Colombia actually refer to this species or to Zamia tolimensis.

The transcriptome phylogeny of Lindstrom and colleagues (2024) included a sample of the species from Huila. Simon Lavaud, of the French specialist nursery Cycadales.eu, groups it horticulturally with Zamia encephalartoides, Zamia lindenii and Zamia tolimensis, the South American Zamia of seasonally dry ecosystems (Lavaud, 2023); this is a growing group, not a phylogenetic one.

Etymology and history

The epithet refers to the department of Huila, to which the species is endemic. In January 2012 a team from the Universidad Surcolombiana in Neiva, the University of Tolima, the José Celestino Mutis botanical garden in Bogotá and Montgomery Botanical Center (Florida) found five populations of this “lost” plant in the municipalities of Algeciras, Garzón and Hobo. Montgomery Botanical Center recalls that it was then unknown whether the species still survived in the wild, the region having been largely cleared for cattle and farming. It was the fourth Zamia species described from Colombia in four years.

Common names

In the municipality of Hobo the species is called “palma de monte” (“mountain palm”, in Spanish), according to the original description. This name, which likens the plant to a palm, is recorded only locally. No English name exists.

In the wild

The species lives in humid premontane forest on the foothills of the western slope of the Cordillera Oriental, between 1,000 and 1,750 m, in the understorey, on slopes of 25 to 60°. The soil is dark and slightly sandy, over granite bedrock covered by a layer of humus. Rainfall ranges from 1,300 to 1,700 mm a year, in two rainy seasons (April, and October to November); the driest months are August–September and December–January. According to the WorldClim climate data analysed by the authors, the temperature there ranges from 13 to 30 °C (55.4 to 86 °F), with an annual mean of 18 to 23 °C (64.4 to 73.4 °F).

In January 2012, male and female cones were visible at all stages. In the five populations studied, plants were locally abundant, seed set in the cones was close to 100 per cent and seedlings were numerous. At Hobo, a male cone shedding pollen sheltered small beetles of the genus Pharaxonotha, known pollinators of other Zamia. Caterpillars of an Eumaeus butterfly were eating the young leaves; eggs, pupae and adults were also seen.

Conservation status and regulation

Zamia huilensis is rated Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List, in the 2022 assessment by Cristina López-Gallego and Michael Calonje, under criteria B1ab(iii,v)+2ab(iii,v) (The World List of Cycads; GBIF gives the same category; the Red List itself could not be consulted). In 2012 the authors of the description recommended Critically Endangered (CR): the five known populations all occupied forest fragments of less than 2 ha surrounded by pasture, for a total area of occupancy of 0.2 km² and about 250 adults observed. They named deforestation for farming and cattle and the illegal collecting of ornamental plants as threats, and deliberately left out precise localities.

Zamia huilensis is covered by the listing of the genus Zamia in CITES Appendix II, in force since 4 February 1977; only one species of the genus, Zamia restrepoi, is in Appendix I. International trade in live plants is allowed but requires an export permit from the country of origin. Annotation #4 exempts in particular seeds, pollen, and seedlings or tissue cultures obtained in vitro and transported in sterile containers. In the European Union the species falls under Annex B of Regulation (EC) No 338/97, whose current list is set by Regulation (EU) 2026/1383, applicable since 29 June 2026: importing live plants requires a permit.

Species+ has no separate entry for the species, which is covered by the listing “Zamia spp.” (checked on 3 October 2026). This general information does not replace the official texts: check the regulations in force before buying or exchanging plants or seeds, and ask the seller for proof of origin.

Growing Zamia huilensis

Cultivation is documented only in Colombia: BGCI lists the species only at the botanical gardens of Bogotá (José Celestino Mutis) and Medellín, and the online catalogue of Montgomery Botanical Center (Florida) records no accession (both queried on 25 October 2026). Its habitat gives some pointers, to be confirmed in cultivation: mid-elevation forest understorey, humus-rich, free-draining soil on slopes, 1,300 to 1,700 mm of rain with two short dry seasons, and temperatures of 13 to 30 °C (55.4 to 86 °F).

Lavaud (2023) places it among the South American Zamia of seasonally dry ecosystems, which he rates of medium difficulty outside the tropics. In his experience these species pose no problem in a frost-free glasshouse in southern France, because they can be kept dry in winter, which avoids root rot. He likens them to the Mexican species, for which he recommends:

  • winters at 5 to 10 °C (41 to 50 °F), with daytime rises towards 20 to 25 °C (68 to 77 °F), and a compost kept fairly dry but never parched;
  • summers at 15 to 20 °C (59 to 68 °F) at night and 25 to 30 °C (77 to 86 °F) by day;
  • at least four to six months of summer temperatures a year.

This is advice for a group of species, not measurements made on Zamia huilensis.

Outdoor and in-ground cultivation

No outdoor planting is documented outside its native region. Only a frost-free climate with warm summers would match its habitat; its tolerance of short dry seasons is an indication, not a tested limit.

Container cultivation

No container cultivation is documented. Should plants of legal, artificially propagated origin become available, Lavaud’s advice for the seasonally dry South American group would be the starting point: a frost-free glasshouse, a free-draining compost kept drier in winter, and long, warm summers.

In cultivation in the UK, US and Australia

In short: no record in any of the three countries.

  • United States: no accession in the online catalogue of Montgomery Botanical Center, and no American garden declares it to BGCI (both queried on 25 October 2026).
  • United Kingdom: no record in BGCI.
  • Australia: no record in BGCI.

The only gardens that declare it to BGCI are the José Celestino Mutis botanical garden in Bogotá and the botanical garden of Medellín, in Colombia. A BGCI declaration shows that a garden held the plant at some point, not that it is alive there today.

Propagation

The species reproduces well in the wild: according to the original description, the female cones set almost 100 per cent of their seeds and seedlings are frequent. The first leaf of the seedlings carries 2 to 4 toothed leaflets 6 cm long. No germination data from cultivation have been published.

Pests and diseases

In the wild, caterpillars of butterflies of the genus Eumaeus feed on the young leaves (observation of 2012). No problem specific to cultivation has been documented; Lavaud (2023) notes that keeping the compost dry in winter avoids root rot in this group.

Cold hardiness

No cultivation data exist on the cold tolerance of Zamia huilensis. According to the climate data cited in its description, the temperature in its habitat falls to 13 °C (55.4 °F) and the annual mean is 18 to 23 °C (64.4 to 73.4 °F). These figures describe a frost-free climate; they say nothing about how the plant would cope with lower temperatures.

Mediterranean and European experience

No in-ground planting has been reported in France or elsewhere in Europe, and no dated frost episode concerns the species. The only European pointer is Lavaud’s assessment, from Montpellier, that the seasonally dry South American group grows without difficulty in a frost-free glasshouse in southern France (Lavaud, 2023). For readers in Mediterranean-type climates such as California or southern Australia, it should be kept frost-free until trials are published.

United Kingdom, United States and Australia

No cold record exists, since the species is not known in cultivation in these countries. In the UK it would need a heated or at least frost-free glasshouse.

Toxicity and precautions

No toxicity study specific to Zamia huilensis has been published. The risk is, however, documented in the genus and in other cycads: Zamia contain toxic glycosides (cycasin, macrozamin), from which methylazoxymethanol is derived, and for Zamia furfuracea the ASPCA cites cycasin and BMAA, a neurotoxic amino acid, with vomiting, bloody diarrhoea and liver damage in dogs, cats and horses; the seeds are the most dangerous part. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, treat the plant as poisonous: keep seeds and leaves out of reach of children and animals, 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 has been documented. The authors of the description name the collecting of plants for ornament as a threat.

Frequently asked questions

Where does Zamia huilensis grow?

Only in Colombia, in the department of Huila, on the foothills of the Cordillera Oriental, between 1,000 and 1,750 m.

Does it have a common name?

Yes: “palma de monte”, in the municipality of Hobo. It has no English name.

Does it form a trunk?

Yes. Its aerial stem reaches 1.1 m in height and 7 to 12 cm in width and is sometimes branched, which sets it apart from Zamia muricata, whose stem is underground.

Is it endangered?

Yes. It has been rated Endangered (EN) by the IUCN since 2022; its authors even proposed Critically Endangered, with about 250 adults known in 2012.

Is it frost-hardy?

Unknown. Its habitat, at 1,000 to 1,750 m, sees temperatures of 13 to 30 °C (55.4 to 86 °F), without frost; no plant has been tested below that.

Can it be grown?

It is documented only in two Colombian botanical gardens. Any plant should come from artificial propagation and be accompanied by CITES documents; a specialist nursery classes its group as of medium difficulty under frost-free glass (Lavaud, 2023).

Further reading on Succulentes

Sources

Reference sites

Bibliography

  • Calonje, M., Esquivel, H.E., Morales, G., Mora-Lizcano, Y.A. & Stevenson, D.W. (2012). A new arborescent species of Zamia (Cycadales, Zamiaceae) from the department of Huila, eastern cordillera of Colombia. Caldasia 34(2): 283–290. [Protologue; full text consulted.]
  • Lindstrom, A., Habib, S., Dong, S., Gong, Y., Liu, J., Calonje, M., Stevenson, D. & Zhang, S. (2024). Transcriptome sequencing data provide a solid base to understand the phylogenetic relationships, biogeography and reticulated evolution of the genus Zamia L. (Cycadales: Zamiaceae). Annals of Botany 134(5): 747–768. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae065 [Sample from Huila included in the phylogeny; full text consulted.]
  • Lavaud, S. (2023). Comment cultiver les Zamia en climat tempéré. Cycadales.eu. [Growing advice for groups of species; read directly.]
  • Calonje, M., Betancur, J., Lindstrom, A., López-Gallego, C., Castro, J., Castro, C., Niño, S.M. & Canelón Barraez, D. (2022). Zamia orinoquiensis (Zamiaceae, Cycadales), a new species from the western Orinoquía region of Colombia. Phytotaxa 556(2): 119–135. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.556.2.2 [Recircumscription of Zamia muricata, which no longer includes the plants of the Colombian Llanos; full text read.]
  • López-Gallego, C. & Calonje, M. (2022). Zamia huilensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T78590786A78590790. [Assessment cited by The World List of Cycads; Red List page not consulted.]
  • Calonje, M., Stevenson, D.W. & Osborne, R. (2026). The World List of Cycads, version 2026.08.15. Montgomery Botanical Center, Coral Gables. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21958524 [Reference checklist; consulted directly.]
  • Haynes, J.L. (2022). Etymological compendium of cycad names. Phytotaxa 550(1): 1–31. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.550.1.1 [Source of the etymologies given by The World List of Cycads; not consulted directly.]