Zamia variegata

Zamia variegata is a cycad of the lowland forests of northern Central America, found in Chiapas (Mexico), Guatemala and southern Belize. This species of the genus Zamia is recognisable at a glance by its thin, papery, toothed leaflets speckled with yellow: a feature botanists regard as unique in the genus, and the one that gave the plant its name. It long circulated in nurseries as Zamia picta, a name of 1884 now treated as a synonym. The IUCN rates it Endangered.

Key facts about Zamia variegata

  • Accepted name: Zamia variegata Warsz. (1845), accepted by The World List of Cycads (version 2026.08.15) and by GBIF; POWO could not be consulted directly
  • Former names and synonyms: Zamia picta Dyer (1884), a name still used in the trade; also formerly treated as Zamia muricata var. picta
  • Family: Zamiaceae, order Cycadales
  • Common names: none attested, in English or in Spanish
  • Natural range: Belize (Toledo), Guatemala (Alta Verapaz, Izabal), Mexico (Chiapas), according to The World List of Cycads; mostly below about 300 m
  • IUCN status: Endangered (EN), criteria A2cd+4cd, assessment published in 2022
  • CITES and other protection: CITES Appendix II (whole genus, since 1977; seeds exempt under annotation #4); Annex B in the European Union; in Mexico, “subject to special protection” under the standard NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010
  • Documented hardiness: no published measurement (see Cold hardiness)
  • Light and soil: tropical evergreen forest according to herbarium records; in cultivation, according to a French specialist nursery, a free-draining, slightly limy or neutral compost and winters at 5 to 10 °C (41 to 50 °F) with warmer days
  • Habit and adult size: stem usually underground; leaflets elliptic, papery, strongly toothed and speckled with yellow; plants up to about 3.7 m tall in eastern Guatemala according to one field observer
  • In the UK, US and Australia: Montgomery Botanical Center, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and some fifteen other American gardens; Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and Cairns Botanic Gardens; no British record
  • Toxicity: no data specific to the species; treat it as poisonous (see Toxicity and precautions)

How to recognise Zamia variegata

By its leaflets: thin, papery, elliptic, strongly toothed and, on the upper side, speckled with yellow. No other described Zamia carries these spots, which Calonje and Meerman (2009) call a “unique and horticulturally attractive” feature; in the key to the Zamia of Mexico published in 2024, this feature, together with the papery, elliptic leaflets, is enough to identify the species (Nicolalde-Morejón and colleagues, 2024).

No full, measured description of the plant (stem, leaves, cones) is freely available: the 2009 revision of the Zamia of “Mega-Mexico” by Nicolalde-Morejón, Vovides and Stevenson, which very probably contains one, could not be consulted, and the 1845 original publication is only a one-line mention (see Taxonomy). Field observations by Jay Vannini (2019), a naturalist who has grown Central American cycads in the United States and Guatemala, fill part of the gap:

  • Stem: usually underground until the plant is very old, when it may emerge a little on limestone or serpentine; in eastern Guatemala, a short, stout stem more than 25 cm (10 in) across.
  • Size: plants occasionally at least 3.7 m (12 ft) tall in eastern Guatemala, becoming noticeably smaller from east to west; the crown is upright, often shuttlecock-shaped in bright light, more spreading in deep shade.
  • Leaflet colour: from plain green to almost entirely yellow, the brightest markings being found on coastal plants; both extremes can grow side by side in at least one Guatemalan population.

He adds that the species can be confusingly variable even within small populations. These are one author’s observations, not a formal description.

The yellow spots should not be confused with colour faults in other cycads. On the French forum Fous de palmiers, a specialist collector warned in 2012 against Cycas revoluta and Zamia furfuracea sold as “variegata” that were simply sun-scorched, and pointed out in 2015 that in young Zamia integrifolia the first variegated leaves often turn green later. In Zamia variegata, by contrast, the speckling is the very feature by which the species is described and distinguished.

Hybrids

No natural hybrid has been demonstrated by a published study. Calonje and colleagues (2009) observed Zamia variegata growing with Zamia decumbens at one site in the south of Toledo district, Belize, with no sign of hybridisation. Vannini (2019), however, attributes the variability of some populations to apparent hybridisation with three other zamias that share its range: Zamia standleyi, Zamia prasina and an undescribed species of central Guatemala; on the Guatemala–Honduras border he describes plants with the leaves of Zamia standleyi but cream or pale yellow spotting on the leaflets. This is a field hypothesis, not a tested result.

In cultivation, according to Whitelock (2002), cited by Vannini, two man-made hybrids with Zamia furfuracea kept the yellow leaf spotting of their Zamia variegata seed parent.

Possible confusion

An adult plant with yellow-speckled leaflets is hard to mistake. Confusion mostly concerns the history of the names and the related species without spots:

  • Zamia prasina, from Belize and the Yucatán peninsula: leaflets also strongly toothed, but leathery and unspotted. Calonje and Meerman (2009) rejected the idea that the name Zamia prasina, described in 1881 by the nurseryman William Bull, could refer to Zamia variegata: Bull would not have failed to mention speckled leaflets, so attractive a feature for horticulture.
  • Zamia decumbens, from the Maya Mountains of Belize: papery-leathery leaflets, entire or with a few small teeth at the tip, and a creeping stem; it lives mostly above 300 m, the upper limit of Zamia variegata according to Calonje and colleagues (2009).
  • The other Mexican Zamia with papery leaflets, such as Zamia stenophyllidia or Zamia lawsoniana, have linear to lanceolate leaflets without yellow spots (Nicolalde-Morejón and colleagues, 2024).
  • In Guatemala, the species grows near Zamia tuerckheimii in Alta Verapaz, a tree-forming Zamia with entire, unspotted leaflets, and near Zamia standleyi, with an underground stem, in Izabal.

Taxonomy

The World List of Cycads and GBIF accept Zamia variegata Warsz.; POWO could not be consulted directly. The name was published in 1845 in the Allgemeine Gartenzeitung of Berlin (cited as 32: 253 by The World List of Cycads), in a letter from the plant collector Józef Warszewicz, then collecting in Guatemala for the Ghent nurseryman Louis Van Houtte. Writing from St. Thomas (Santo Tomás, on the Caribbean coast of Guatemala) in March 1845, he lists among the plants he has just sent to Europe “a Zamia variegata Nob., with pretty variegated leaves”; the letter gives no other description. The issue is dated 9 August 1845.

For want of usable original material, the name is now fixed by a neotype: Dennis Stevenson’s collection number 685, made in the Lacandon region of Chiapas on 12 January 1987 and kept in New York (NY), with isoneotypes in Utrecht (U) and Xalapa (XAL). The World List of Cycads notes that earlier accounts of the typification and of Warszewicz’s history are superseded, and refers on this point to the revision by Nicolalde-Morejón and colleagues (2009).

The synonym is Zamia picta, published by William Thiselton-Dyer in 1884 in the Biologia Centrali-Americana (Botany, volume 3, page 194). Warszewicz’s older name has priority, but Zamia picta (“painted”) has remained in use in the trade: on the Italian forum Tropicamente and the French forum Fous de palmiers the plant still appears under that name between 2009 and 2013. Vannini (2019) also recalls the combination Zamia muricata var. picta, which linked it to Zamia muricata of Venezuela and Colombia.

The transcriptome-based study of Lindstrom and colleagues (2024), which sampled two plants, one from Toledo district (Belize) and one from Alta Verapaz (Guatemala), places Zamia variegata, with Zamia prasina, among the species of south-eastern Mexico whose ranges extend into Belize and Guatemala (sub-clade III-A), not with the species of Honduras and eastern Guatemala.

Etymology and history

The epithet comes from the Latin variegatus, “variegated, mottled”, and refers to the yellow speckles on the leaflets (Haynes, 2022, followed by The World List of Cycads); Warszewicz’s own words, “with pretty variegated leaves”, say the same. The synonym picta, from the Latin pictus, “painted”, describes the same feature.

Józef Warszewicz, a former gardener at the Berlin botanic garden, had sailed from Ostend on the ship Minerva and reached Santo Tomás on 1 February 1845, according to his letter; the Zamia was among some 2,000 specimens of palms, orchids, bromeliads, ferns and other plants he had sent back from his first excursions there. The letter does not say exactly where the plant was found.

Common names

No common name is attested for Zamia variegata, in English or in Spanish, and the British nursery Trebrown knows of none. In the trade, the most widespread name after the accepted one is the Latin synonym Zamia picta.

In the wild

The World List of Cycads records Zamia variegata in three countries: Belize (Toledo district), Guatemala (Alta Verapaz, Izabal) and Mexico (Chiapas), where the neotype locality lies, in the Lacandon region. Calonje and colleagues (2009) put the upper limit of the species at about 300 m in Belize; for Chiapas, the herbarium specimens gathered by Nicolalde-Morejón and colleagues (2014) give 80 to 150 m, in the Gulf of Mexico biogeographic region.

The table of Nicolalde-Morejón and colleagues (2011) places the species in tropical evergreen forest, in the sense of Rzedowski (1978), and lists it among the seven Zamia of the area of high diversity running from Alta Verapaz and Izabal to northern Honduras, with a hot, wet climate (mean annual temperature 25 °C, or 77 °F, and 3,000 to 4,000 mm of rain a year).

Vannini (2019) gives a broader picture from the field: in his view the species ranges from extreme eastern Chiapas through most of northern Guatemala and Belize to just inside north-western Honduras; it lives mainly in the understorey of wet and rain forest, but some populations grow in more open, drier foothills with Caribbean pine (Pinus caribaea); it is often coastal along the Caribbean shore of Guatemala, where it is sometimes flooded by brackish water; it grows on rock or in soil; and he has photographed it at about 700 m (2,275 ft) on the Guatemala–Honduras border, above the 300 m limit given for Belize. Since 2007 he has found it still relatively abundant at a few sites. Honduras is not included in the range given by The World List of Cycads. Soils, pollinators and phenology are not documented for the species.

Conservation status and regulation

Zamia variegata is rated Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List under criteria A2cd+4cd, in the assessment by J.D. Bösenberg published in 2022 (The World List of Cycads; category confirmed by GBIF; the Red List page could not be consulted). Under the IUCN definitions, these criteria correspond, for the EN category, to a population reduction of at least 50 %, past and expected, linked to habitat decline and collection. An earlier assessment, by D.W. Stevenson, was published in 2010. In Mexico the species is listed as “subject to special protection” under the standard NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 (Nicolalde-Morejón and colleagues, 2014).

Like all Zamia except Zamia restrepoi, which is in Appendix I, Zamia variegata falls under CITES Appendix II, where the genus has been listed since 4 February 1977. The listing carries annotation #4: seeds, pollen, seedlings and tissue cultures obtained in vitro and transported in sterile containers are not covered by CITES. International trade in the plants themselves, on the other hand, requires an export permit from the country of origin. In the European Union the species is listed in Annex B of Regulation (EC) No 338/97, whose annexes are now set by Regulation (EU) 2026/1383, applicable since 29 June 2026. Species+ has no separate entry for the species, which is covered by the listing “Zamia spp.”.

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

Growing Zamia variegata

No botanic garden has published a growing guide for this species. The French specialist nursery Cycadales.eu places Zamia variegata in its group of Zamia from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, rated of “medium” difficulty: most come from climates with a marked dry season and tolerate dry air and a fairly dry compost in winter, which limits the risk of rot (Lavaud, 2023). For this group it advises:

  • a free-draining, slightly limy or neutral compost; any kind of water;
  • in winter, 5 to 10 °C (41 to 50 °F) with daytime rises to 20 to 25 °C (68 to 77 °F); medium tolerance of long cool spells without rises above 20 °C (68 °F), provided the compost stays fairly dry without drying out completely;
  • in summer, 15 to 20 °C (59 to 68 °F) at night and 25 to 30 °C (77 to 86 °F) by day, up to 40 °C (104 °F) with generous watering;
  • at least four to six months a year of summer-type temperatures: kept at “winter” temperatures all year, these tropical plants decline.

These are recommendations from experience for a group of species, not measurements made on Zamia variegata. They sit somewhat uneasily with the humid lowland forests where the species mostly grows, while the drier foothill populations described by Vannini fit them better; no published source says whether, or how, this difference should change cultivation.

Vannini (2019), who grows it in his American and Guatemalan collections, notes that Zamia variegata is gradually finding its way into mixed tropical plantings as more seed-grown plants reach commercial nurseries in the tropics. He shows fully mature plants raised from seedlings in a private collection in Guatemala, with leaves more than 3.4 m (11 ft) long and large female cones, and 18-month-old line-bred seedlings sown on pure pumice. For potted Central American zamias in general he recommends light to medium shade, a very free-draining mix with at least half pumice or medium-grade perlite, and water that is not too mineral-rich.

Outdoor and in-ground cultivation

Outdoor planting is only realistic in tropical or frost-free subtropical climates, in light shade and a free-draining soil; this follows from the general advice above and from the habitat, not from a published trial outside the tropics.

Container cultivation

In cooler climates the species is grown in a pot and brought under cover for winter, following the nursery’s advice for its group: a cool but frost-free winter with the compost kept fairly dry, and a long, warm growing season.

In cultivation in the UK, US and Australia

In short: widely held in American botanic gardens, present in two Australian gardens and in private Queensland collections, and no British record.

  • United States: the online catalogue of Montgomery Botanical Center (Coral Gables, Florida) lists eight accession numbers, 99487, 99789, 20050051 to 20050053, 20050055, 20080675 and 20140147, which by their numbering date from 1999 to 2014. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (Miami) lists it in its online Garden Explorer (checked on 19 October 2026). BGCI also records it at The Huntington (San Marino, California), Ganna Walska Lotusland (Santa Barbara, California), San Diego Botanic Garden (Encinitas, California), Descanso Gardens (La Cañada Flintridge, California), the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley, Naples Botanical Garden and Marie Selby Botanical Gardens (Florida), the Missouri Botanical Garden (St. Louis), Lincoln Park Conservatory (Chicago), the Fort Worth Botanic Garden and Mercer Botanic Gardens (Texas), the conservatory of the University of Minnesota (St. Paul), the National Tropical Botanical Garden and the botanical garden of the University of Hawaii at Hilo (Hawaii), and the U.S. National Plant Germplasm System (catalogue and BGCI queried on 25 October 2026).
  • Australia: Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, which declares it to BGCI and lists it in its online Garden Explorer (checked on 19 October 2026), and Cairns Botanic Gardens (BGCI). Vannini (2019) also shows high-colour plants of Belize origin in a private shadehouse in north-eastern Queensland (photograph by C. Hall and A. Dearden).
  • United Kingdom: no record in BGCI or in the online catalogues of British gardens.

A BGCI declaration shows that a garden held the plant at some point, not that it is alive there today, and says nothing about whether it grows outdoors or under glass. Elsewhere, BGCI records it in Mexico (botanic gardens of Culiacán, Xalapa and the Faustino Miranda garden in Chiapas), Peru, the Czech Republic (Prague), Singapore, China and Nigeria.

Propagation

The species is propagated from seed, and seeds are only fertile if a female plant has been pollinated by a male. On the Italian forum Tropicamente, a grower who does not give his location reported in May 2010 buying five seeds of “Zamia picta” with their pulp on eBay, none of which germinated: they were empty; in July, after five months, nothing had come up. The identity of the seeds cannot be checked. On the French forum Fous de palmiers, when an enthusiast asked in November 2010 whether floating seeds of Zamia variegata could be viable, a specialist collector replied that floating seeds are usually dead, unless the air comes from the end where the shoot emerges, and advised sowing them anyway, separately. Vannini (2019) sows seedlings of regional zamias on pure pumice.

Seeds are exempt from CITES under annotation #4, but should come from cultivated plants of legal origin.

Pests and diseases

No pest or disease specific to the species has been documented. In cultivation, Zamia chiefly fear rot in cold, sodden compost, and scale insects and mealybugs; for the group to which Zamia variegata belongs, Cycadales.eu advises reducing compost moisture in winter to limit rot. No published source lists Zamia variegata as a host plant of the butterfly Eumaeus toxea; the 2023 study by Sierra-Botero and colleagues does not mention it.

Cold hardiness

There is no measurement of the cold tolerance of Zamia variegata, either in the wild or in cultivation. The only pointer is Cycadales.eu’s advice for its group: winters at 5 to 10 °C (41 to 50 °F) with daytime rises, and medium tolerance of long cool spells if the compost stays fairly dry. This is not a survival limit, but the conditions for healthy growth.

Mediterranean and European experience

No in-ground cultivation has been reported in France or Italy, and no dated frost episode concerns this species. On the Fous de palmiers forum, the species only appears in connection with seeds (2010), with no growing report. In Italy, a grower in Ravenna (USDA zone 8a/8b according to his forum signature) listed a “Zamia picta” in his cycad collection in June 2013, with no growing or temperature data. At the Jardin zoologique tropical in La Londe-les-Maures, in the Var (southern France), there is no observation of this species; the only pointer for the genus, a Zamia integrifolia from Florida that survived −7 °C (19.4 °F) in February 2012 with damage to its foliage, cannot be transferred to a species from another region that has never been tested in cold. Without trials, it is grown in a pot and kept frost-free in winter.

United Kingdom, United States and Australia

No cold record has been published. Trebrown, a British nursery, gives it USDA zone 9b: a commercial rating, not a measured result. In the UK it needs a frost-free glasshouse or conservatory in winter. Outdoors it is mainly grown in frost-free parts of Florida, Hawaii and tropical Queensland; how it fares in the occasional light frosts of coastal California, where several gardens declare it, is not documented.

Toxicity and precautions

No toxicity study specific to Zamia variegata 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 the ASPCA cites for Zamia furfuracea 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 is documented for this species; its known use is ornamental, in cycad collections and, increasingly, in tropical gardens.

Frequently asked questions

Are the yellow spots a disease?

No. The yellow speckles are the feature by which the species is described and recognised in botanical keys. Be wary, on the other hand, of plants of other species sold as “variegata” that are merely sun-scorched.

Are Zamia picta and Zamia variegata the same plant?

Yes. Zamia picta Dyer (1884) is a synonym of Zamia variegata Warsz. (1845), which has priority. The name Zamia picta is nonetheless still common in the trade.

Is it the only variegated cycad?

It is the only described Zamia with yellow-speckled leaflets, according to Calonje and Meerman (2009).

Where does it grow in the wild?

In Chiapas (Mexico), Guatemala (Alta Verapaz, Izabal) and southern Belize (Toledo), in lowland forest, mostly below about 300 m; one field observer also reports it in north-western Honduras and up to about 700 m.

How can I tell it from Zamia prasina?

By the leaflets: papery and speckled with yellow in Zamia variegata, leathery and unspotted in Zamia prasina. Both have strongly toothed leaflets.

Is it endangered?

Yes. The IUCN rates it Endangered (2022), for a population reduction of at least 50 % linked to habitat loss and collection.

Can it stand cold?

Nobody knows: there is no measurement. A specialist nursery places it among the zamias that tolerate winters at 5 to 10 °C (41 to 50 °F) with warmer days; in Britain and other frost-prone climates, keep it frost-free.

Is it poisonous?

It must be assumed so. No analysis concerns the species, but the cycads studied contain serious toxins, especially in the seeds.

Further reading on Succulentes

Sources

Reference sites

Bibliography

  • Warszewicz, J. (1845). [Letter to the court gardener Sello, Santo Tomás, Guatemala.] Allgemeine Gartenzeitung, 9 August 1845: 252–253 (cited as 32: 253 by The World List of Cycads). [Original publication of the name; read in the Cycad Society copy.]
  • Calonje, M. & Meerman, J. (2009). What is Zamia prasina (Zamiaceae: Cycadales)? Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas 3(1): 43–49. [Leaflet characters of Zamia variegata; read.]
  • Calonje, M., Meerman, J., Griffith, M.P. & Hoese, G. (2009). A new species of Zamia (Zamiaceae) from the Maya Mountains of Belize. Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas 3(1): 31–41. [Co-occurrence with Zamia decumbens, altitude; full text read.]
  • Nicolalde-Morejón, F., Martínez-Domínguez, L., González-Aguilar, M.A. & Stevenson, D.W. (2024). Reestablishment of Zamia lawsoniana (Zamiaceae, Cycadales), an endemic species of Mexico, with first description of the ovulate strobilus. Acta Botanica Mexicana 131: e2262. https://doi.org/10.21829/abm131.2024.2262 [Identification key; read.]
  • Nicolalde-Morejón, F., González-Astorga, J., Vergara-Silva, F., Stevenson, D.W., Rojas-Soto, O. & Medina-Villarreal, A. (2014). Biodiversidad de Zamiaceae en México. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad, suppl. 85: S114–S125. https://doi.org/10.7550/rmb.38114 [Full text read.]
  • Nicolalde-Morejón, F., González-Astorga, J., Vergara-Silva, F. & Vovides, A.P. (2011). Perspectivas sistemáticas de Zamia (Zamiaceae) en Megaméxico: de la taxonomía alfa a los códigos de barras genéticos. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 82: 341–355. [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.]
  • Vannini, J. (2019). Central American and Panamanian cycads in field and greenhouse. Exotica Esoterica, 17 February 2019. [Online article by a naturalist and collector; read.]
  • Nicolalde-Morejón, F., Vovides, A.P. & Stevenson, D.W. (2009). Taxonomic revision of Zamia in Mega-Mexico. Brittonia 61(4): 301–335. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12228-009-9077-9 [Revision and neotypification cited by The World List of Cycads; not consulted (paywalled).]
  • Thiselton-Dyer, W.T. (1884). Zamia picta. Biologia Centrali-Americana, Botany 3: 194. [Publication of the synonym; not consulted.]
  • Whitelock, L.M. (2002). The Cycads. Timber Press, Portland. [Man-made hybrids with Zamia furfuracea; cited by Vannini (2019); not consulted.]
  • Bösenberg, J.D. (2022). Zamia variegata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T213254735A69836567. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T213254735A69836567.en [Current assessment, EN A2cd+4cd; reference checked on Crossref, category confirmed by GBIF; the Red List page could not be consulted.]
  • Stevenson, D.W. (2010). Zamia variegata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: e.T42139A10664393. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-3.RLTS.T42139A10664393.en [Earlier assessment; reference checked on Crossref; category not verified.]
  • Lavaud, S. (2023). Comment cultiver les Zamia en climat tempéré. Cycadales.eu. [Growing advice for groups of species; read 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.]
  • 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.]