Ceratozamia vovidesii

Ceratozamia vovidesii is a cycad of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, in southern Mexico, where it grows in oak forest and cloud forest between about 800 and 1,850 m (about 2,620 to 6,070 ft). This species of the genus Ceratozamia, described in 2007, has long leaves that are reddish brown when they emerge, with numerous narrow, lance-shaped leaflets, and large cylindrical cones. The 2022 monograph of the genus and the World Checklist of Vascular Plants also record it from Guatemala, a record now partly referred to another species. It is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN.

Key facts about Ceratozamia vovidesii

  • Accepted name: Ceratozamia vovidesii Pérez-Farr. & Iglesias (2007), 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: none; not to be confused with Dioon vovidesii, a different cycad named after the same botanist
  • Family: Zamiaceae, order Cycadales
  • Common names: none recorded
  • Natural range: Mexico, Sierra Madre de Chiapas, 800 to 1,850 m; Guatemala (Huehuetenango) according to the 2022 monograph and the WCVP, but not according to The World List of Cycads (see In the wild)
  • IUCN status: Vulnerable (VU, criterion D2), assessment published in 2022
  • CITES and other protection: CITES Appendix I (whole genus, since 1985); Annex A in the European Union, seeds included; “in danger of extinction” (P) in the Mexican standard NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010
  • Documented hardiness: no data for the species (see Cold hardiness)
  • Light and soil: in the wild, karst rocks in cloud forest according to the 2022 monograph, mainly oak forest on acid soils over granite and metamorphic rocks according to the original description; no published growing advice
  • Habit and adult size: trunk 50 to 80 cm long and 20 to 30 cm across, with 3 to 18 leaves 1 to 2.4 m long (2022 monograph); trunk 15 to 85 cm, underground to partly above ground, sometimes branched, with 8 to 16 leaves 1.24 to 1.88 m long (original description)
  • In the UK, US and Australia: declared by three American gardens; none in the UK or Australia (see In cultivation)
  • Toxicity: no data for the species; treat it as poisonous, like all cycads (see Toxicity and precautions)

How to recognise Ceratozamia vovidesii

It is a medium-sized to large species with many narrow leaflets, 1.4 cm wide at most, lance-shaped and often curved at the base, carried on ascending leaves with a well-armed petiole. The 2022 monograph describes it as follows:

  • Trunk: above ground, upright then lying down, 50 to 80 cm long and 20 to 30 cm across; scale leaves (cataphylls) reddish brown with a brown felt.
  • Leaves: 3 to 18, 97 to 238 cm long, ascending, reddish brown with whitish-grey hairs at emergence, hairless later; petiole 40 to 164 cm long, with 15 to 55 slender prickles 1.4 to 3.8 mm long; rachis 54 to 153 cm long, also prickly.
  • Leaflets: 30 to 85, lance-shaped, papery, green, glaucous beneath, with conspicuous veins; middle leaflets 20 to 45 cm long and 0.7 to 1.4 cm wide, 0.3 to 2.4 cm apart.
  • Male cones: solitary, cylindrical, upright, 15 to 45 cm long and 3.5 to 5 cm across, yellowish green then yellowish cream, with reddish-brown hairs; scales shaped like an inverted cone, with a rounded sterile tip and straight horns.
  • Female cones: solitary, cylindrical, 26 to 40 cm long and 7.1 to 9.6 cm across, greyish green then green, densely hairy; stalk 7 to 15 cm long, upright or hanging; 60 to 70 scales with straight horns 6 to 8 mm long.
  • Seeds: oval, 2.2 to 2.7 cm long, with whitish-yellow to yellow flesh turning light brown.

The original description (Pérez-Farrera and colleagues, 2007) gives a somewhat different plant: a subglobose to cylindrical trunk, underground to partly above ground, 15 to 85 cm long and 17.8 to 32.1 cm across, sometimes branched; 8 to 16 erect to arching leaves 124 to 188 cm long, reddish brown when young, then dark green; 74 to 93 pairs of leathery leaflets, flat or slightly channelled, 29 to 38 cm long and 0.74 to 1.4 cm wide, with green articulations; a conical male cone 48 cm long on a felted stalk 9 cm long; a cylindrical to barrel-shaped, hanging female cone 33 to 46 cm long, olive green then dark brown, on a stalk 9 to 16 cm long; and a chromosome number of 2n = 16. The two sources differ mainly on the number of leaflets (74 to 93 pairs against 30 to 85 leaflets), their texture (leathery against papery) and the trunk, often underground in the original description.

Hybrids

No natural or garden hybrid has been documented.

Possible confusion

According to the 2022 monograph, the closest species in appearance is Ceratozamia mirandae, another species of Chiapas, with similar leaves. The difference lies in the male cones: in Ceratozamia vovidesii the scales (microsporophylls) are shaped like an inverted cone, with a rounded sterile tip; in Ceratozamia mirandae they are elliptic, with a linear sterile tip.

The original description compared it above all with Ceratozamia matudae, which also has hanging female cones:

  • Ceratozamia matudae: female cone on a very long, slender, yellowish-green, almost hairless stalk; trunk above ground and unbranched; yellow leaflet articulations; male cone thick, cylindrical and short.
  • Ceratozamia vovidesii: female cone stalk short, thick, brown and felted; trunk underground to above ground and sometimes branched; green articulations; male cone slender, conical and long.

The same authors separated Ceratozamia mirandae by its upright female cones and its unbranched, tree-like trunk. Other narrow-leaved species of the Sierra Madre and nearby mountains, such as Ceratozamia norstogii and Ceratozamia alvarezii, can also be confused with it, and so can Ceratozamia guatemalensis, described in 2024 from Guatemalan plants formerly referred to it. A plant without cones and without a known origin is therefore hard to name. Without cones, a young Ceratozamia can also be mistaken for a Zamia.

Taxonomy

Ceratozamia vovidesii is accepted by The World List of Cycads, by the 2022 monograph and by the WCVP, the database behind POWO (read via GBIF on 30 October 2026); it has no synonym. It was described in 2007 in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society by Miguel Ángel Pérez-Farrera, Jorge González-Astorga, Sergio Avendaño and Carlos Iglesias, under the title “A new species of Ceratozamia (Zamiaceae) from the Sierra Madre of Chiapas, Mexico, with comments on species relationships”; the name is attributed to Pérez-Farrera and Iglesias alone.

The authors recognised the species during a study of the population dynamics of Ceratozamia matudae in the El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve. They then grew it for six years, next to Ceratozamia matudae, in the greenhouses of the University of Sciences and Arts of Chiapas (UNICACH) and at the Francisco Javier Clavijero Botanic Garden in Xalapa, where the shape of its leaves, leaflets and cones remained stable.

A type citation corrected

The collection number of the type, Pérez-Farrera 2620a, was cited by mistake in 2012 as the holotype of another species, Zamia grijalvensis. The authors of the 2022 monograph examined both specimens: 2620a is clearly a Ceratozamia matching the description of Ceratozamia vovidesii, and the holotype of Zamia grijalvensis is in fact the collection Pérez-Farrera 3026. They treat the earlier citation as a typographical error, now corrected.

Place in the genus

In the phylogeny of Habib and colleagues (2023), based on several thousand nuclear genes, Ceratozamia vovidesii belongs to the norstogii subclade of the Miqueliana clade, with Ceratozamia norstogii, Ceratozamia alvarezii, Ceratozamia mirandae and Ceratozamia chimalapensis, which share features of the leaves and cones. A 2024 study of the evolution of the genus notes that its lance-shaped leaflets arose independently of the similar leaflets of Ceratozamia subroseophylla, which belongs to another lineage (Martínez-Domínguez and colleagues, 2024). According to the description of Ceratozamia guatemalensis, a recent phylogenetic study places that species next to Ceratozamia vovidesii.

Etymology and history

The epithet honours Andrew P. Vovides, botanist at the Instituto de Ecología in Xalapa (Veracruz), for his work on the systematics, ecology and conservation of Mexican cycads, including the creation of the Mexican national cycad collection at the Francisco Javier Clavijero Botanic Garden in Xalapa (2022 monograph; Haynes, 2022). The same botanist is honoured by Dioon vovidesii, a cycad of Sonora described in 2018.

The type is a female plant collected in July 2001 by Pérez-Farrera (no. 2620a) in the municipality of La Concordia, at about 1,150 m; the holotype is kept in the HEM herbarium in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, with isotypes at CHIP, MEXU, MO and XAL. The original description deliberately omitted the precise locality, to protect the populations from collectors. The species had been collected long before it was named: the original description cites a specimen gathered by E. Matuda in 1940 and another by Miranda in 1951, and the monograph lists specimens from 1945, 1968 and the 1980s. Apart from the plants grown for the 2007 study, no source documents its introduction into cultivation.

Common names

No common name is recorded, in English or in any other language: the 2022 monograph lists none.

In the wild

Ceratozamia vovidesii lives in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, the mountain range that runs along the Pacific side of Chiapas. According to the 2022 monograph, it grows on karst rocks in cloud forest between 800 and 1,850 m, with collections from the municipalities of Ángel Albino Corzo, Jaltenango de la Paz, La Concordia, Mapastepec and Siltepec. The original description describes a different setting: mainly a three-layered oak forest with Quercus, Cornus disciflora and Pinus oocarpa, on an acid, humus-rich sandy-clay soil over Precambrian granites and folded metamorphic rocks, on slopes of up to 45°; the species also grows in cloud forest and tropical rainforest, between 1,000 and 1,700 m. In cloud forest and rainforest its trunk is often underground and its leaves upright; in oak forest the trunk is above ground to underground and the leaves arching to upright.

Does it grow in Guatemala?

The sources disagree. The 2022 monograph extends the range of the species to Guatemala, on the basis of specimens from the department of Huehuetenango collected in 1906, 1942 and 2006, and the WCVP records it from south-eastern Mexico and Guatemala. The World List of Cycads, on the other hand, gives Chiapas only. In 2024, two of those Guatemalan specimens, Steyermark 51818 (1942) and Cook 51 (1906), were cited among the material of Ceratozamia guatemalensis, a new species from the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes, in the same department. The 2006 collections listed by the monograph are not mentioned in that description, so the presence of Ceratozamia vovidesii in Guatemala is neither confirmed nor ruled out by the sources.

No study of pollination, germination or population dynamics has been published for the species.

Conservation status and regulation

Ceratozamia vovidesii is listed as Vulnerable (VU, criterion D2) on the IUCN Red List, in an assessment by J.D. Bösenberg published in 2022 (status given by The World List of Cycads and confirmed by the Red List data distributed through GBIF, 30 October 2026). Criterion D2 applies to a species whose range or number of localities is very restricted, which exposes it to a sudden threat. The 2022 monograph, which extended its range to Guatemala, recommends not changing this status, given the number of populations seen in the field. In 2007 the describers, who knew only four populations in a small area of the Sierra Madre, already proposed Vulnerable (under the 1994 criteria), despite the protection of the reserve, because of uncontrolled annual fires and the conversion of the habitat to maize fields and coffee plantations.

In Mexico, the species is listed as “in danger of extinction” (P) in the standard NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, in the list as modified on 14 November 2019, which does not mark it as endemic. Like the whole genus, it has been covered by CITES Appendix I since 1 August 1985 (cycads had been in Appendix II since 1977), and by 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), seeds included; Species+ lists it under its own name (checked on 30 October 2026). International trade in wild-collected plants for commercial purposes is banned; only artificially propagated plants with the required permits can be traded.

In practice, buy only seed-grown plants with documents of origin, and do not confuse Ceratozamia vovidesii with Dioon vovidesii in sales lists. This general information does not replace the official texts: check the regulations in force before buying, importing or exchanging plants.

Growing Ceratozamia vovidesii

No source describes the cultivation of Ceratozamia vovidesii beyond the six years of experimental cultivation reported by its describers, during which its appearance remained stable. The pointers below are drawn from its habitat and from the general rules for the genus; they have not been confirmed by published trials.

  • Light: partial shade or filtered light, as in oak and cloud forest; avoid sudden full sun.
  • Soil: free-draining, rich in organic matter, with a mineral fraction.
  • Watering: regular during growth, without standing water, reduced in winter; a humid atmosphere suits a cloud-forest plant.
  • Space: adult leaves exceed 2 m and carry prickles; allow room and wear gloves.

Outdoor and in-ground cultivation

No outdoor planting of Ceratozamia vovidesii has been documented with a dated result. The American gardens that declare it, in Florida, California and Hawaii, do not say whether their plants grow outdoors or under glass.

Container cultivation

Young plants grow well in a pot in a humus-rich, free-draining mix, which allows them to be moved under cover in winter; adults, with leaves over 2 m long, soon outgrow most containers.

In cultivation in the UK, US and Australia

In the United States, BGCI PlantSearch (queried on 30 October 2026) lists Montgomery Botanical Center (Coral Gables, Florida), the Huntington (San Marino, California) and the botanical garden of the University of Hawaii at Hilo; the online catalogue of Montgomery Botanical Center lists one accession. No garden in the United Kingdom or Australia declares it. Outside these countries, BGCI lists the Francisco Javier Clavijero Botanic Garden in Xalapa, where the plants of the 2007 study were grown. No garden states whether its plants grow outdoors.

Propagation

Propagation is from seed. The plants are male or female: both sexes and, in cultivation, hand pollination are needed to obtain fertile seed. No germination data specific to the species have been published. Handle seeds wearing gloves.

Pests and diseases

No pest or disease specific to Ceratozamia vovidesii has been documented. In cultivated Ceratozamia, growers mainly report rot in cold, sodden soil and leaf scorch after sudden exposure to full sun.

Cold hardiness

No data exist for Ceratozamia vovidesii: no dated cultivation report, and no temperature record published for its sites. Its altitude, up to 1,850 m, is not enough to infer any frost tolerance.

Mediterranean and European experience

No cultivation of this species has been reported in Europe, and the Jardin zoologique tropical in La Londe-les-Maures (Var, on the French Riviera) has published no observation of it. European results for the genus concern other species and cannot be transferred to it.

United Kingdom, United States and Australia

No dated cold record and no commercial hardiness rating have been published. Overwinter it frost-free until documented trials exist.

Toxicity and precautions

No toxicity study specific to Ceratozamia vovidesii has been published. The risk is well documented in other cycads: their tissues, and above all their seeds, contain toxic glycosides (cycasin, macrozamin), from which methylazoxymethanol is derived, a compound harmful to the liver and nervous system. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, treat the plant as poisonous: keep seeds and leaves out of reach of children and animals, wear gloves to clean seeds, and if any part is swallowed, call a poison centre, a doctor or a vet straight away.

Traditional uses

The 2022 monograph records only a decorative use, from the label of the type specimen, without further detail. No food or medicinal use has been reported.

Frequently asked questions

Are Ceratozamia vovidesii and Dioon vovidesii the same plant?

No. They are two cycads of different genera, named after the same botanist, Andrew Vovides. Ceratozamia vovidesii lives in the mountain forests of Chiapas; Dioon vovidesii in Sonora, in north-western Mexico.

Where does it grow?

In the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, in southern Mexico, between 800 and 1,850 m. Its presence in Guatemala, recorded by the 2022 monograph and the WCVP, is disputed since part of the Guatemalan material was assigned to Ceratozamia guatemalensis in 2024.

How can I recognise it?

By its many narrow leaflets. They are 20 to 45 cm long and at most 1.4 cm wide, and the young leaves are reddish brown. To separate it from Ceratozamia mirandae, the scales of the male cone must be examined.

Is it endangered?

Yes, moderately. The IUCN has listed it as Vulnerable since 2022 because of its restricted range, and Mexico lists it as in danger of extinction. Like the whole genus, it is in CITES Appendix I.

Who was Vovides?

A Mexican botanist specialising in cycads. Andrew P. Vovides, of the Instituto de Ecología in Xalapa, founded the Mexican national cycad collection at the Francisco Javier Clavijero Botanic Garden.

Can it take frost?

Nobody knows. No documented trial exists: overwinter it frost-free.

Further reading on Succulentes

Sources

Reference sites

Bibliography

  • Pérez-Farrera, M.A., González-Astorga, J., Avendaño, S. & Iglesias, C.G. (2007). A new species of Ceratozamia (Zamiaceae) from the Sierra Madre of Chiapas, Mexico, with comments on species relationships. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 153(4): 393–400. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.2007.00629.x [Original description; primary source.]
  • 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 [Monograph of the genus; open access.]
  • Habib, S., Gong, Y., Dong, S., Lindstrom, A., Stevenson, D.W., Wu, H. & Zhang, S. (2023). Phylotranscriptomics shed light on intrageneric relationships and historical biogeography of Ceratozamia (Cycadales). Plants 12(3): 478. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12030478 [Phylogeny of the genus; open access.]
  • Martínez-Domínguez, L., Nicolalde-Morejón, F., Vergara-Silva, F., Gernandt, D.S., Huesca-Domínguez, I. & Stevenson, D.W. (2024). Evolutionary trends of reproductive phenotype in Cycadales: an analysis of morphological evolution in Ceratozamia. Annals of Botany 134(4): 631–650. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae058 [Evolution of leaflet shape; open access.]
  • Pérez-Farrera, M.A., Díaz-Jiménez, P., Quezada, M.L., Marroquín-Tintí, A., Delgado Montejo, H.M., Mendoza-Montejo, S.A. & Gutiérrez-Ortega, J.S. (2024). Ceratozamia guatemalensis (Zamiaceae): a new cycad species from Mesoamerica. Phytotaxa 668(1): 63–80. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.668.1.4 [Guatemalan specimens formerly referred to Ceratozamia vovidesii.]
  • Bösenberg, J.D. (2022). Ceratozamia vovidesii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T178877A69865727. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T178877A69865727.en [Red List assessment; category confirmed by GBIF.]
  • 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.]
  • 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.]