Ceratozamia becerrae

Ceratozamia becerrae is a small cycad of south-eastern Mexico, endemic to the Sierra Madrigal, on the borders of Tabasco and Chiapas, where it grows on limestone outcrops in tropical rainforest between 100 and 800 m (about 330 to 2,600 ft). Described in 2004, this species of the genus Ceratozamia has few leaves, with broad, oblong, leathery leaflets. It was placed for a time in synonymy with Ceratozamia zoquorum before being reinstated in 2020, and the IUCN Red List still treats it under that name.

Key facts about Ceratozamia becerrae

  • Accepted name: Ceratozamia becerrae Pérez-Farr., Vovides & Schutzman (2004), accepted by The World List of Cycads (version 2026.08.15), by the 2022 monograph of the genus and by the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP, the database behind POWO, read via GBIF)
  • Former names and synonyms: placed in synonymy with Ceratozamia zoquorum in 2017, reinstated in 2020; spelt “beccerrae” in the Species+ database
  • Family: Zamiaceae, order Cycadales
  • Common names: none recorded
  • Natural range: Mexico, Sierra Madrigal (southern Tabasco: Teapa, Tacotalpa; northern Chiapas: Amatán), 100 to 800 m according to the 2022 monograph (400 to 600 m according to the original description)
  • IUCN status: Not Evaluated (NE) according to The World List of Cycads; the current Red List data treat it as a synonym of Ceratozamia zoquorum, assessed Critically Endangered (see Conservation status)
  • CITES and other protection: CITES Appendix I (whole genus, since 1985); Annex A in the European Union
  • Documented hardiness: no data (see Cold hardiness)
  • Light and soil: in the wild, limestone outcrops in evergreen tropical forest or oak forest
  • Habit and adult size: trunk 13 to 38 cm; 2 to 12 leaves (up to 17), 0.5 to 2.1 m long, according to the 2022 monograph; trunk 10 to 31 cm and 2 to 5 leaves 0.55 to 1.78 m long according to the original description (2004)
  • In the UK, US and Australia: Montgomery Botanical Center (Florida), the Huntington (California, BGCI); none in the UK or Australia
  • Toxicity: no data specific to the species; treat it as poisonous, like all cycads (see Toxicity and precautions)

How to recognise Ceratozamia becerrae

It is recognised by its few, drooping leaves, which carry only 6 to 15 pairs of large, oblong leaflets 4.5 to nearly 9 cm wide, and by its light green, glaucous young leaves with a pink petiole. The monograph by Martínez-Domínguez and colleagues (2022) describes it as follows:

  • Trunk: short, upright, above ground to half buried, 13 to 38 cm long and 9 to 15 cm across.
  • Leaves: 2 to 12 (up to 17), drooping, 49 to 210 cm, light green and glaucous when they emerge; petiole 35 to 111 cm, pink when young and then yellowish green, unarmed or with 3 to 27 very fine, very short prickles; rachis usually unarmed.
  • Leaflets: 6 to 15 pairs, oblong to oblanceolate, leathery, often sickle-shaped at the base; median leaflets 16 to 30 cm by 4.5 to 8.8 cm, 5.5 to 11 cm apart.
  • Male cones: solitary, cylindrical, upright, 10.8 to 20 cm by 2.8 to 4 cm, green turning creamy yellow, with blackish hairs.
  • Female cones: solitary, cylindrical, 15 to 23 cm by 7.5 to 8.5 cm, green, with reddish-brown hairs turning blackish and an acute tip; 43 to 56 scales with straight horns.
  • Seeds: oval, 1.5 to 2.4 cm, with whitish-pink flesh turning light brown.

The original description (Vovides and colleagues, 2004) often gives smaller values, measured on wild plants and on plants grown for more than six years: a globose trunk, underground or partly above ground, 10 to 31 cm by 5.5 to 10.5 cm, protected by petiole bases and reddish-brown cataphylls; 2 to 5 drooping to prostrate leaves, olive green when they emerge, 55 to 178 cm by 21.5 to 45 cm; petiole 15.5 to 79 cm, unarmed or with a few fine, scattered prickles; 4 to 13 pairs of flat, leathery, oblong to oblanceolate leaflets, olive green above and light green below, 17 to 30 cm by 5.2 to 10 cm, with 32 to 54 veins, 5.4 to 12.9 cm apart, with an obliquely inserted yellow to orange articulation; an upright, conical male cone, light green to olive green turning beige to creamy yellow, 14 to 14.5 cm by 1.7 to 2.2 cm, on a peduncle 3.8 to 5 cm long; an upright, cylindrical or barrel-shaped female cone, 11 to 13.5 cm by 4 to 5.1 cm, on a very woolly peduncle 2 to 3 cm long; oval seeds 1.1 to 2.1 cm by 1.1 to 1.4 cm, with white flesh turning creamy yellow; 2n = 16 chromosomes.

The clearest differences between the two sources concern the number of leaves (2 to 5 against 2 to 12), the size of the cones (female cone 11 to 13.5 cm against 15 to 23 cm) and the length of the female cone peduncle (2 to 3 cm against 5 to 12 cm). The authors’ key describes shiny leaflets, as opposed to the bloomy leaflets of Ceratozamia zoquorum, whereas the monograph calls the young leaves glaucous.

Hybrids

No natural or garden hybrid has been documented.

Possible confusion

Ceratozamia becerrae belongs to a group of species that are hard to tell apart, with oblong, leathery leaflets and few prickles on the leaves:

  • Ceratozamia zoquorum, from Chiapas and Tabasco, resembles it closely in both leaves and cones; the 2022 monograph admits that no diagnostic character separates them clearly, while the 2020 anatomical study relies on the internal structure of the leaflets;
  • Ceratozamia santillanii, from northern Chiapas, differs in its shorter female cone peduncle (under 3 cm) according to the 2022 monograph; yet the original description of Ceratozamia becerrae gave a peduncle of only 2 to 3 cm, which weakens this character;
  • Ceratozamia hondurensis, from Honduras, was compared with Ceratozamia becerrae when it was described in 2008;
  • according to Whitelock (2002), as cited in the description of Ceratozamia aurantiaca, the species of the Ceratozamia miqueliana complex, Ceratozamia becerrae included, always produce soft green young leaves, which separates them from the species with brown or reddish flushes.

Away from its locality of origin, a plant of this group cannot be identified with certainty.

Taxonomy

Ceratozamia becerrae is accepted today, by The World List of Cycads and by the WCVP (which records its publication in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 146, page 124), but it went through a three-year eclipse.

Andrew Vovides, Miguel Angel Pérez-Farrera, Bart Schutzman and their co-authors described it in 2004 in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, from plants of the Sierra Madrigal. The authors had found the plant as early as 1985 in the karst hills of southern Tabasco, alongside Zamia cremnophila and Zamia splendens; they then treated it as Ceratozamia miqueliana and brought several plants into cultivation at the Francisco Javier Clavijero botanic garden in Xalapa. New collections made in Tabasco and Chiapas in April 1996, followed by more than six years of observation in cultivation next to Ceratozamia miqueliana, convinced them that it was a new species, which they placed in the Ceratozamia miqueliana complex with Ceratozamia euryphyllidia and Ceratozamia zoquorum. It differs from Ceratozamia miqueliana in its fewer, drooping leaves with unarmed or almost unarmed petioles, its broader, more widely spaced leaflets, its globose trunk and its female cone, light yellowish green when it emerges.

In 2009, Pérez-Farrera and colleagues reassessed the Ceratozamia miqueliana complex, to which the species belongs (a paper cited by The World List of Cycads). In 2017, Martínez-Domínguez and colleagues, in a study of cryptic diversity in this complex (Organisms Diversity & Evolution), placed it in synonymy with Ceratozamia zoquorum. In 2020, Vovides and colleagues revised the complex on the basis of leaflet anatomy (in the journal Flora) and reinstated Ceratozamia becerrae as a distinct species; The World List of Cycads followed this reinstatement. The 2022 monograph also accepts it, while stressing that no simple morphological character separates it from Ceratozamia zoquorum.

The species was included in the phylogenomic study by Habib and colleagues (2023), but the published text does not specify its exact position within the genus.

Etymology and history

The epithet honours Marcos Enrique Becerra (1870–1940), a Mexican writer, poet and politician who also worked on the ethnology, archaeology and botany of Tabasco. According to the original description and The World List of Cycads, he discovered and collected the species during a floristic study of southern Tabasco and northern Chiapas in 1914–1915, identifying it as Ceratozamia miqueliana; it was on re-examining this specimen that the authors noticed its broader, fewer and more widely spaced leaflets. The 2022 monograph cites a specimen collected by Becerra on 7 April 1914, at 800 m, kept in the MEXU herbarium.

The type specimen was collected in August 2003 by Andrew Vovides (number 1458) in the municipality of Teapa (Tabasco); the holotype is kept in the XAL herbarium. The original description deliberately gives only the state (Tabasco), to discourage illegal collecting; the precise locality comes from the 2022 monograph and The World List of Cycads. The description also cites two paratypes, M.A. Pérez-Farrera 2457 (Tabasco, January 2001) and M.A. Pérez-Farrera 901 (Chiapas, April 1996). In the 2004 article itself, the name is attributed to Pérez-Farrera, Vovides and Schutzman, as in The World List of Cycads, although the article’s first author is Andrew Vovides.

Common names

No vernacular name is known: the 2022 monograph records none, and there is no English name.

In the wild

Ceratozamia becerrae is endemic to the mountains of the Sierra Madrigal, in southern Tabasco (municipalities of Teapa and Tacotalpa) and northern Chiapas (Amatán). It grows on limestone outcrops, in evergreen tropical forest and oak forest, between 100 and 800 m. According to the description of Ceratozamia decumbens (2008), this region belongs to a former refuge of very humid forests stretching from southern Veracruz to northern Chiapas, home to several other cycads, including Ceratozamia zoquorum and Ceratozamia miqueliana.

The original description places the species in the mountains of northern Chiapas and the sierras of southern Tabasco, between 400 and 600 m, on limestone rocks in evergreen tropical forest with three layers: emergent trees 20 to 40 m tall such as Ceiba pentandra, Dialium guianense, Manilkara zapota or Pouteria sapota, and an understorey of Astrocaryum mexicanum, Chamaedorea and Reinhardtia gracilis palms. The terrain is rugged, with slopes of up to 70 % and cliffs; the limestone, eroded into karst, carries a thin tropical rendzina. The species grows alongside Zamia cremnophila and Zamia splendens. The authors knew only two populations. They note that Ceratozamia miqueliana grows on basalt in Veracruz or on humus-rich clays in Chiapas, whereas Ceratozamia becerrae lives only on karst limestone, in the wettest region of the Mexican lowlands.

Conservation status and regulation

The IUCN status of Ceratozamia becerrae is unclear, because the sources disagree. The World List of Cycads gives it as Not Evaluated (NE). The 2022 monograph nevertheless attributes to it the entry “(IUCN 2021) Endangered; A2ac+4ac; B2ab(i,ii,iv); C1”. The Red List published an assessment of the species under its own name in 2010 (Chemnick and Gregory, version 2010.3, reference found on Crossref); the current IUCN data relayed by GBIF, however, treat Ceratozamia becerrae as a synonym of Ceratozamia zoquorum, which is assessed Critically Endangered (CR) by J.D. Bösenberg in the 2022 Red List (all checked on 30 October 2026). The Red List therefore treats the two names as a single species, which explains why Ceratozamia becerrae has no current assessment of its own. The original description (2004) already recommended the category Critically Endangered (CR B2(a–e), under the 1994 IUCN criteria), because of the spread of crops and coffee plantations and of a 1998 fire that had badly affected one of the two known populations.

Like the whole genus, the species has been listed in CITES Appendix I since 1 August 1985, and in Annex A of Regulation (EC) No 338/97 in the European Union (annexes now set by Regulation (EU) 2026/1383, applicable since 29 June 2026). Species+ lists it under the misspelling “Ceratozamia beccerrae”, but the listing covers the whole genus anyway, seeds included (checked on 30 October 2026).

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 Ceratozamia becerrae

No growing guide has been published. The authors of the description kept plants in cultivation for more than six years at the Clavijero botanic garden in Xalapa, and several botanic gardens hold it (see below), but none has described its needs. Its habitat (lowland tropical rainforest, limestone rocks, understorey) points to a plant of shade, warmth and constant humidity, in a very free-draining compost; these indications are deduced from the habitat, not cultivation results.

Outdoor and in-ground cultivation

No outdoor planting has been explicitly documented. In frost-free, humid tropical gardens, a shaded spot among limestone rocks or in very free-draining soil would follow its habitat; this is inferred, not tested.

Container cultivation

No container-growing report has been published. With few leaves and a short trunk, the plant suits a pot under glass: a coarse, free-draining compost, bright shade, warmth and regular humidity, frost-free in winter.

In cultivation in the UK, US and Australia

In the United States, Montgomery Botanical Center (Coral Gables, Florida) holds three accessions in its online catalogue, and declares the species to BGCI PlantSearch, as does the Huntington (San Marino, California). The only other holder declared to BGCI is the Clavijero botanic garden in Xalapa, Mexico. No garden in the UK or Australia declares it (BGCI and Montgomery checked on 30 October 2026). A BGCI listing shows that a garden has declared the species at some point, not that a living plant is there today.

Propagation

No data specific to the species. Like all Ceratozamia, the plant has separate male and female individuals: propagation is from fertilised seed.

Pests and diseases

No pest or disease has been documented for this species.

Cold hardiness

There are no data on the tolerance of Ceratozamia becerrae to cold, heat or drought. Its habitat, humid tropical forest between 100 and 800 m in southern Mexico, gives no reason to expect any tolerance of frost.

Mediterranean and European experience

No cultivation has been reported in France or Italy, in the ground or in a pot. At the Jardin zoologique tropical in La Londe-les-Maures (Var, on the French Riviera), no observation of it has been published. For readers in Mediterranean-type climates such as California or southern Australia, it should be kept frost-free.

United Kingdom, United States and Australia

No cold record and no commercial hardiness rating have been published. In Florida and California it is held by botanic gardens whose growing conditions are not stated; in the UK it would need a heated glasshouse.

Toxicity and precautions

No toxicity data concern the species or the genus. In the cycads studied, seeds and leaves contain toxic glycosides (cycasin, macrozamin), from which methylazoxymethanol is derived, a compound harmful to the liver and nervous system. Treat the plant as poisonous to people and pets; if any part is swallowed, call a poison centre, a doctor or a vet straight away.

Traditional uses

No use has been documented; the 2022 monograph records none.

Frequently asked questions

Where does Ceratozamia becerrae grow?

In the Sierra Madrigal, in southern Tabasco and northern Chiapas, Mexico, on limestone rocks in tropical rainforest between 100 and 800 m.

Is it the same as Ceratozamia zoquorum?

No, according to current taxonomic sources. The two were merged in 2017 and separated again in 2020 on the basis of leaflet anatomy, a separation followed by The World List of Cycads and the WCVP. They remain very hard to tell apart by eye, and the IUCN Red List still treats them as one species.

Who was Becerra?

Marcos Enrique Becerra (1870–1940), a Mexican writer, poet and politician, who collected the plant as early as 1914 during a study of the flora of Tabasco.

Is it endangered?

Probably, but its official status is unclear: Not Evaluated according to The World List of Cycads, Endangered according to the 2022 monograph, and included in Ceratozamia zoquorum, assessed Critically Endangered, by the current Red List. Its describers proposed Critically Endangered in 2004, after a fire had affected one of its two known populations.

Is it frost-hardy?

Nobody knows. No cultivation report exists. Coming from lowland tropical forests, it should be kept frost-free.

Why does Species+ spell it “beccerrae”?

It is a typing error in the database. The published, accepted name is Ceratozamia becerrae, after Marcos Enrique Becerra.

Further reading on Succulentes

Sources

Reference sites

Bibliography

  • Vovides, A.P., Pérez-Farrera, M.A., Schutzman, B., Iglesias, C., Hernández-Sandoval, L. & Martínez, M. (2004). A new species of Ceratozamia (Zamiaceae) from Tabasco and Chiapas, Mexico. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 146(1): 123–128. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.2004.00312.x [Original description: diagnosis, description, type and paratypes, habitat, key against Ceratozamia miqueliana, Ceratozamia zoquorum and Ceratozamia euryphyllidia, proposed status. Primary source.]
  • Pérez-Farrera, M.A., Vovides, A.P., Martínez-Camilo, R., Martínez-Meléndez, N. & Iglesias, C. (2009). A reassessment of the Ceratozamia miqueliana species complex (Zamiaceae) of southeastern Mexico, with comments on species relationships. Systematics and Biodiversity 7(4): 433–443. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1477200009990211 [Cited by The World List of Cycads.]
  • Martínez-Domínguez, L., Nicolalde-Morejón, F., Vergara-Silva, F., Stevenson, D.W. & del Callejo, E. (2017). Cryptic diversity, sympatry, and other integrative taxonomy scenarios in the Mexican Ceratozamia miqueliana complex (Zamiaceae). Organisms Diversity & Evolution 17(4): 727–752. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-017-0341-7 [Synonymy with Ceratozamia zoquorum, as reported by The World List of Cycads and the monograph.]
  • Vovides, A.P., Pérez-Farrera, M.A., Gutiérrez-Ortega, J.S., Avendaño, S., Medina-Villarreal, A., González-Astorga, J. & Galicia, S. (2020). A revision of the Ceratozamia miqueliana (Zamiaceae) species complex based on analyses of leaflet anatomical characters. Flora 270: 151649. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.flora.2020.151649 [Reinstatement of the species, as reported by The World List of Cycads and the monograph.]
  • Martínez-Domínguez, L., Nicolalde-Morejón, F., Vergara-Silva, F. & Stevenson, D.W. (2022). Monograph of Ceratozamia (Zamiaceae, Cycadales): an endangered genus. PhytoKeys 208: 1–102. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.208.80382 [Description, range, status cited; open access.]
  • Pérez-Farrera, M.A., Gutiérrez-Ortega, J.S., Haynes, J.L., Chemnick, J., Salas-Morales, S.H., Calonje, M. & Vovides, A.P. (2021). Ceratozamia aurantiaca (Zamiaceae): a new cycad species from the northern rainforests of Oaxaca, Mexico. Taxonomy 1(3): 243–255. https://doi.org/10.3390/taxonomy1030018 [Colour of the young leaves in the Ceratozamia miqueliana complex, after Whitelock (2002); open access.]
  • Chemnick, J. & Gregory, T. (2010). Ceratozamia becerrae. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010.3. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-3.RLTS.T42123A10657578.en [Earlier Red List assessment; reference found on Crossref.]
  • Bösenberg, J.D. (2022). Ceratozamia zoquorum. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T212187677A69867542.en [Current assessment, Critically Endangered, under which the Red List places Ceratozamia becerrae; reference found on Crossref, category relayed by GBIF.]
  • 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.]