Zamia manicata

Zamia manicata is a cycad of north-western Colombia (Antioquia, Chocó) and eastern Panama (Darién), where it grows in the humid forests of the Chocó-Darién region, mostly in the lowlands. Described in 1876 and long known in cultivation, this species of the genus Zamia is recognised by a feature that is almost unique among cycads: on adult leaves, each leaflet is joined to the rachis by a short stalk ending in a reddish-purple, gland-like collar, like a sleeve. It has given its name to the “manicata clade”, a group of related Colombian species, and the IUCN rates it Near Threatened (2022 assessment).

Key facts about Zamia manicata

  • Accepted name: Zamia manicata Linden ex Regel (1876), accepted by The World List of Cycads (version 2026.08.15), by GBIF and by the World Checklist of Vascular Plants, on which POWO is based; POWO could not be consulted directly
  • Former names and synonyms: Zamia madida R.E.Schult. (1958); long confused with Zamia obliqua
  • Family: Zamiaceae, order Cycadales
  • Common names: no name attested, in English or in Spanish
  • Natural range: Colombia (Antioquia, Chocó) and Panama (Darién); 100 to 1,000 m according to the Flora de Colombia, with many herbarium collections below 300 m and some near sea level
  • IUCN status: Near Threatened (NT B1b(iii)+2b(iii)), 2022 assessment
  • 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 cold record; reported to need uniformly warm temperatures by day and by night (see Cold hardiness)
  • Light and soil: in the wild, primary and secondary rainforest, also coffee plantations, pasture edges and secondary vegetation; very wet soils
  • Habit and adult size: underground stem 5 to 10 cm in diameter; 3 to 10 leaves 0.5 to 2 m long, with 10 to 30 pairs of leaflets 15 to 35 cm long and 3 to 7 cm wide
  • In the UK, US and Australia: Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and The Huntington (United States), Royal Botanic Garden Sydney (Australia); none recorded in the UK
  • Toxicity: no data specific to the species; treat it as poisonous, like all cycads (see Toxicity and precautions)

How to recognise Zamia manicata

The decisive character is the base of the leaflets. Each one narrows into a channelled petiolule ending in a gland-like collar that constricts the leaflet base, which becomes strongly concave; petiolule, collar and leaflet base are reddish purple and stand out clearly from the rest of the blade (Calonje and colleagues, 2021). Regel’s original description of 1876, made from a plant in Jean Linden’s nursery, already noted this: leaflets “narrowing at the base into a stalk sleeved by a prominent ring”. The character is absent from seedlings, only rudimentary on young plants, develops fully only on adult leaves and often fails to appear on the first leaves of a transplanted adult (Stevenson, 2001).

The Flora de Colombia (Stevenson, 2001) gives the following description:

  • Stem: underground, globose to subcylindrical, 5 to 10 cm in diameter; cataphylls with a triangular base and long-acuminate tip, 3 to 8 cm long and 1 to 2 cm wide.
  • Leaves: 3 to 10 per plant, 0.5 to 2 m long; petiole 0.2 to 1 m, sparsely to densely prickly; rachis usually prickly in its lower third, with 10 to 30 pairs of leaflets.
  • Leaflets: oblong to long-elliptic, stalked, 15 to 35 cm long and 3 to 7 cm wide (median leaflets), wedge-shaped at the base with the semicircular gland-like rim on the lower side, acute to acuminate at the tip, toothed in the upper third.
  • Male cones: cylindrical, 4 to 6 cm long and 1 to 1.5 cm in diameter, on a peduncle 15 to 30 cm long; yellowish in the Flora de Colombia, dark reddish brown according to Calonje and colleagues (2021).
  • Female cones: wine-red to reddish brown, cylindrical to ovoid-cylindrical, 10 to 15 cm long and 4 to 7 cm in diameter.
  • Seeds: red, 1 to 1.5 cm long and 5 to 8 mm in diameter; as in the whole clade, the fleshy coat is extremely thin (Calonje and colleagues, 2021).
  • Chromosomes: 2n = 18 (Caputo and colleagues, 1996, cited by Stevenson, 2001).

Horticultural descriptions agree in substance. The American nursery Jungle Music describes a thin caudex about 2 in (5 cm) thick and up to about a foot (30 cm) tall, green leaves 3 to 6 ft (about 0.9 to 1.8 m) long and leaflets about 12 in (30 cm) long. The naturalist Jay Vannini calls it a dwarf to medium-sized Zamia, mostly single-leafed when young but able to carry several long leaves in nature and in cultivation (Vannini, 2019).

Hybrids

No hybrid, natural or raised in cultivation, is documented.

Possible confusion

On an adult plant, the leaflet stalk and collar make Zamia manicata the easiest member of its group to identify. The vegetative key of Calonje and colleagues (2021), intended for mature or larger juvenile plants, separates it from its relatives as follows:

  • Zamia sinuensis, of the Sinú basin (Córdoba), described in 2021: the closest in appearance, but with sessile, strongly undulate leaflets without stalk or collar, a green leaflet base and cream male cones speckled with reddish-brown hairs; it is separated from the populations of Zamia manicata by the Serranía de Abibe;
  • Zamia restrepoi (formerly Chigua restrepoi): leaflets with a raised midrib, unique in the genus;
  • Zamia disodon: broad, thin, elliptic leaflets with prominent veins;
  • Zamia melanorrhachis: flat leaflets curved forwards, with a raised longitudinal crease;
  • Zamia imbricata and the undescribed Zamia “Cogollo”: petiole unarmed or nearly so, small thin leaflets.

The other historical confusion is with Zamia obliqua, another species of Panama and Colombia. According to the Flora de Colombia, Schuster (1932) sank Zamia manicata into Zamia obliqua with a description mixing the trunk and cones of the latter with the leaves of the former; Schultes then redescribed the plant as Zamia madida in 1958, and the Zamia obliqua of Gómez (1982) also corresponds to Zamia manicata. The two differ clearly: Zamia obliqua has aerial trunks up to 5 m, elliptic to obovate leaflets up to 10 cm long, male cones on short peduncles (2 to 5 cm), pollen sacs on both faces of the microsporophylls and light brown female cones (Stevenson, 2001). Finally, Zamia macrochiera, from the western Amazon, is the only other cycad with a collar at the leaflet base; in that species it is a large flap that curves up to meet the blade, and its leaves and female cones are much larger (Stevenson, 2004).

Taxonomy

Zamia manicata is an accepted name according to The World List of Cycads, GBIF and the World Checklist of Vascular Plants, on which POWO is based (read on GBIF, version of 4 June 2026); POWO itself could not be consulted. The name, due to the horticulturist Jean Linden, was published by Eduard Regel in 1876 in the Acta Horti Petropolitani (Trudy Imperatorskago S.-Peterburgskago Botaniceskago Sada, volume 4, page 310), with a short Latin description of a plant growing “in horto Lindeano”, Linden’s nursery, and no locality. The type is an illustration, figure e of plate 926 in Gartenflora 27 (1878): the Flora de Colombia and Calonje and colleagues (2021) call it a neotype designated by Stevenson and Sabato in 1986, whereas The World List of Cycads lists it as a lectotype. Zamia madida, described by Richard Evans Schultes in 1958 from a collection he made with I. Cabrera in Antioquia in February 1953 (holotype at Harvard, GH), is a synonym.

Relationships. Molecular analyses by Calonje and colleagues (2019) showed that Zamia manicata forms a strongly supported natural group, the manicata clade, with Zamia disodon, Zamia melanorrhachis and Zamia restrepoi; Zamia imbricata, Zamia sinuensis and the undescribed “Cogollo” were added in 2021. Despite their very different leaflets, these species share underground or half-buried stems, strongly toothed leaflets, cones on very long peduncles (usually over 20 cm), fairly flat sporophyll shields, small seeds with a very thin fleshy coat and tiny male cones (Calonje and colleagues, 2021). The transcriptome phylogeny of Lindstrom and colleagues (2024), which sampled a plant from Antioquia, confirmed this northern Colombian subgroup with Zamia disodon, Zamia restrepoi and Zamia sinuensis.

Etymology and history

The epithet comes from the Latin manicatus, “long-sleeved”, and refers to the leaflet stalk (The World List of Cycads, after Haynes, 2022); the Flora de Colombia links it to the semicircular gland-like rim at the base of each leaflet.

The plant was thus first known from cultivation in Europe, in Linden’s nursery, before it was understood in the wild. Calonje and colleagues (2021) note that although Zamia manicata was described nearly 150 years ago and has been widely collected, the other members of its clade became known only in recent decades: violence and social unrest in the region for over half a century, then intense deforestation, held back exploration.

Common names

No common name is attested for this species, in English or in Spanish.

In the wild

Zamia manicata grows mainly in the Chocó-Darién moist forests ecoregion of Colombia and neighbouring Panama, whereas the other species of its clade occupy the Magdalena-Urabá moist forests further east (Calonje and colleagues, 2021). The World List of Cycads gives the Colombian departments of Antioquia and Chocó and the Panamanian province of Darién. The Flora de Colombia records it in primary and secondary rainforest between 100 and 1,000 m in western Antioquia, northern Chocó and the Darién (Stevenson, 2001); the many specimens listed by Calonje and colleagues (2021) come mostly from below 300 m, some from 10 to 50 m, while one Panamanian collection was made between 700 and 1,000 m. The American nursery Jungle Music gives humid rainforest up to 3,000 ft (about 900 m), and Vannini describes a range from extreme eastern Panama extending discontinuously into the rainforests of western Colombia (Vannini, 2019).

The Flora de Colombia calls it locally abundant, still found in coffee plantations, pasture edges and secondary vegetation, where it also sets seed. Two recent studies in Colombia add detail. In fragmented forests of the Colombian Darién, Cristina López-Gallego (2025) found populations close to a stable size overall, but varying by habitat: forest edges, more open and more browsed by herbivores, held more seedlings and had the highest population growth rate. Taborda-López and colleagues (2025) placed camera traps in front of mature female cones and marked seeds: they recorded a medium-sized bird, the rufous motmot (Baryphthengus martii), as a potential primary disperser, and found that 6 per cent of the seeds first dropped under the parent plant were later moved more than 10 m away.

Conservation status and regulation

Zamia manicata is rated Near Threatened (NT) by the IUCN under criteria B1b(iii)+2b(iii), in an assessment by Cristina López-Gallego published in 2022 (The World List of Cycads; reference checked on Crossref): its range is limited and the quality of its habitat is declining, without all the thresholds of a threatened category being met. In the 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants it carried the codes R, II, V for Colombia and R, II, R for Panama (Stevenson, 2001). Calonje and colleagues (2021) stress the intense deforestation of the region, and López-Gallego (2025) studied its persistence in fragmented, human-modified landscapes. The Red List itself could not be consulted.

Like all Zamia except Zamia restrepoi, which is in Appendix I, Zamia manicata is covered by the listing of the genus in CITES Appendix II, in force since 4 February 1977. Annotation #4 (the version adopted at CoP20, in force on 5 March 2026) exempts seeds, pollen, seedlings and tissue cultures obtained in vitro and transported in sterile containers, and cut flowers of artificially propagated plants; 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 current list is set by Regulation (EU) 2026/1383, applicable since 29 June 2026. Species+, the official CITES database, names the species and confirms this status (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, ask the seller for proof of origin and prefer plants raised from cultivated seed.

Growing Zamia manicata

Zamia manicata has a reputation as a difficult plant. Jay Vannini writes that, despite reports of recent imports of wild seed, it remains rare in cultivation in the United States because of apparent difficulties in raising seedlings past the first-leaf (eophyll) stage, although Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden propagated and distributed it in the past (Whitelock, 2002, cited by Vannini). He counts it among the most notoriously difficult Neotropical Zamia, ironically coming from some of the most saturated soils in nature, and among the lowland rainforest species that appear to need uniformly warm temperatures by day and by night (Vannini, 2019).

Simon Lavaud, of the French specialist nursery Cycadales.eu, lists it with the Zamia of the lowland forests of Central and South America, a group he rates as difficult outside the tropics. For this group he advises a free-draining, neutral to acid compost and water, night temperatures around 22 °C (72 °F), with brief drops to about 15 °C (59 °F) tolerated, daytime temperatures of 28 to 30 °C (82 to 86 °F) and air humidity of 70 to 90 per cent (Lavaud, 2023). Jungle Music, which shows a coning plant in a container in its nursery, recommends no specific conditions for the species.

Outdoor and in-ground cultivation

Only a hot, humid, frost-free tropical climate, with warm nights all year, suits it in the open. In South Florida, Fairchild has grown and propagated it, and RBG Sydney lists it in its living collections; whether these plants grow in the open or under glass has not been published.

Container cultivation

Elsewhere it is a plant for a heated, humid glasshouse with steady temperatures. Its reputation suggests particular care at the seedling stage; a free-draining compost that is never allowed to dry out completely, soft water and constant warmth follow from the advice of Vannini and Lavaud.

In cultivation in the UK, US and Australia

In short: present in a few American and Australian collections, absent from British ones.

  • United States: Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Coral Gables, Florida (listed in its online Garden Explorer, updated on 16 October 2026, and declared to BGCI; Fairchild has propagated and distributed the species in the past, according to Vannini); The Huntington, San Marino, California (BGCI). No entry in the online catalogue of Montgomery Botanical Center (queried on 25 October 2026).
  • Australia: Royal Botanic Garden Sydney (Garden Explorer, updated on 1 October 2026, and BGCI); a plant in a private collection in north-eastern Queensland is illustrated by Vannini (2019).
  • United Kingdom: no record in BGCI or in the online catalogues of British gardens.

Propagation

Zamia manicata is propagated from seed, with separate male and female plants. The delicate stage, according to Vannini (2019), is the seedling, which is hard to bring on beyond its first leaf. Seeds are exempt from CITES under annotation #4; ask for documented origin.

Pests and diseases

No pest or disease specific to the species has been documented in cultivation. In the wild, leaves at forest edges suffer more herbivory than those in the interior (López-Gallego, 2025). In cultivation, Zamia are chiefly at risk from rot in cold, waterlogged compost and from scale insects.

Cold hardiness

No data exist on the cold tolerance of Zamia manicata. It lives in lowland tropical rainforest, and Vannini (2019) counts it among the species that appear to need uniformly warm temperatures by day and by night: chilly nights, even without frost, are likely to set it back. The British nursery Trebrown places it in USDA zone 9b, a commercial classification without any dated record, which seems optimistic in the light of these observations.

Mediterranean and European experience

No cultivation result has been published in France or elsewhere in Europe, either in the ground or in a pot, and no dated frost episode concerns the species. For readers in Mediterranean-type climates such as California or southern Australia, it is a plant for a heated glasshouse.

United Kingdom, United States and Australia

No cold record exists. The plants known in botanical gardens are in South Florida, coastal southern California and Sydney; their growing conditions and any exposure to cold have not been published.

Toxicity and precautions

No toxicity study specific to Zamia manicata has been published. The risk is, however, well documented in cycads: Zamia contain toxic glycosides (cycasin, macrozamin), from which methylazoxymethanol is derived, a compound toxic to the liver and nervous system, and the ASPCA cites cycasin and BMAA, a neurotoxic amino acid, for Zamia furfuracea, which it lists as toxic to 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 use is documented for this species.

Frequently asked questions

Why is it called manicata?

Because its leaflets are attached by a short stalk ending in a reddish-purple collar, like a sleeve: manicatus means “long-sleeved” in Latin. The feature is extremely rare in cycads; only Zamia macrochiera, from the Amazon, has a comparable collar.

Do young plants already have the collar?

No. The stalk and collar are absent from seedlings, only rudimentary on young plants and fully developed only on adult leaves, which makes seedlings hard to identify.

Where does it grow?

In north-western Colombia (Antioquia, Chocó) and eastern Panama (Darién), in the humid forests of the Chocó-Darién region, mostly in the lowlands up to about 1,000 m.

What is the manicata clade?

A group of related species from northern Colombia, established by genetic studies: Zamia manicata, Zamia disodon, Zamia melanorrhachis, Zamia restrepoi, and Zamia imbricata and Zamia sinuensis, described in 2021.

Is it the same plant as Zamia obliqua?

No. Older authors confused the two, but Zamia obliqua has an aerial trunk up to 5 m, much smaller leaflets without a collar and short-stalked male cones.

Is it endangered?

It is Near Threatened according to the IUCN (2022 assessment): its range is limited and its habitat is degrading, without reaching the thresholds of a threatened category.

Is it easy to grow?

No. It is reputed difficult, especially at the seedling stage, and seems to need constant warmth by day and night; it remains rare in cultivation.

Is it poisonous?

It must be assumed so. No analysis specific to the species exists, but the cycads studied contain serious toxins, mainly in the seeds.

Further reading on Succulentes

Sources

Reference sites

Bibliography

  • Regel, E. (1876). [Zamia manicata Linden.] Acta Horti Petropolitani (Trudy Imperatorskago S.-Peterburgskago Botaniceskago Sada) 4(4): 310. [Original description of Zamia manicata; scanned copy read.]
  • Stevenson, D.W. (2001). Orden Cycadales. Flora de Colombia 21: 1–91. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. [Treatment of Zamia manicata; online version read.]
  • Calonje, M., Castro Hernández, J., Coca, L.F., Jaramillo, D. & Aristizábal, A. (2021). Two new species of Zamia (Zamiaceae, Cycadales) from the Magdalena-Urabá moist forests ecoregion of northern Colombia. Phytotaxa 497(1): 1–19. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.497.1.1 [Peer-reviewed article; full text read.]
  • 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 [Full text read on PubMed Central.]
  • Taborda-López, D., Sierra-Botero, L., Gañán-Gómez, E. & López-Gallego, C. (2025). Seed dispersal in Zamiaceae (Cycadales) and first observation of seed consumption in Zamia manicata. Plant Species Biology 40(6): 584–596. https://doi.org/10.1111/1442-1984.70020 [Peer-reviewed article; abstract read; a preprint was posted on Authorea in 2024.]
  • López-Gallego, C. (2025). Population structure and dynamics of the tropical rainforest cycad Zamia manicata in a fragmented landscape. Plant Species Biology 40(6): 597–606. https://doi.org/10.1111/1442-1984.70011 [Peer-reviewed article; abstract read.]
  • Stevenson, D.W. (2004). Zamiaceae of Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. In: Walters, T. & Osborne, R. (eds), Cycad Classification: Concepts and Recommendations. CABI Publishing, Wallingford: 173–194. [Comparison of the collar with that of Zamia macrochiera, pages 185–187 read.]
  • Calonje, M., Meerow, A.W., Griffith, M.P., Salas-Leiva, D., Vovides, A.P., Coiro, M. & Francisco-Ortega, J. (2019). A time-calibrated species tree phylogeny of the New World cycad genus Zamia L. (Zamiaceae, Cycadales). International Journal of Plant Sciences 180(4): 286–314. https://doi.org/10.1086/702642 [Phylogeny of the genus; not consulted directly, cited after Calonje and colleagues (2021).]
  • López-Gallego, C. (2022). Zamia manicata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T42168A69842173. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T42168A69842173.en [Red List assessment; reference given by The World List of Cycads and checked on Crossref; Red List page not consulted.]
  • 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.]
  • 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.]