Encephalartos marunguensis

Encephalartos marunguensis is a small central African cycad with a partly underground stem, endemic to the south-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it was discovered in 1957 on the plateaus of the Marungu Mountains, in Haut-Katanga. This species of the genus Encephalartos was described in 1958 by the Belgian botanist René Devred. It belongs to a group of central African species with no trunk or a short one, close to Encephalartos poggei. The IUCN lists it as Vulnerable. A supplementary description, based on fresh plants from six sites, was published in 1971 by Lisowski and Malaisse.

Key facts about Encephalartos marunguensis

  • Accepted name: Encephalartos marunguensis Devred (1958), according to The World List of Cycads
  • Former names and synonyms: none; the 2003 IUCN action plan spells it marungiensis
  • Family: Zamiaceae, order Cycadales
  • Common names: Marungu cycad in English (Species+); “Kavunduvundu” and “Tusu” in Kitabwa (Lisowski and Malaisse, 1971)
  • Natural range: Democratic Republic of the Congo (Haut-Katanga); a presence in Tanzania, mentioned in 2003, is not accepted by The World List of Cycads
  • IUCN status: Vulnerable (VU, criterion B1ab(iii,v)), assessment by J.D. Bösenberg dated 27 March 2020 and published in 2022
  • CITES and other protection: CITES Appendix I since 1977, like the whole genus; Annex A in the European Union
  • Documented hardiness: no data (see Cold hardiness)
  • Light and soil: wooded savanna and grassy steppe of the Muhila plateau, between 1390 and 1690 m (Lisowski and Malaisse, 1971); requirements in cultivation not documented
  • Habit and adult size: stem underground or rising up to 40 cm above the soil, 12 to 16 cm in diameter; 10 to 22 leaves 60 to 85 cm long; cones 18 to 30 cm long (Lisowski and Malaisse, 1971, fresh material)
  • In the UK, US and Australia: no botanic garden declares it to BGCI
  • Toxicity: not studied for this species; a documented risk for the genus (see Toxicity and precautions)

How to recognise Encephalartos marunguensis

Encephalartos marunguensis is recognised by its habit without a visible trunk, its numerous leaves and its narrow leaflets, glaucous when fresh and almost always without side spines. Devred’s original description, published in the Bulletin de la Société royale de botanique de Belgique, is not freely available and has not been consulted. In 1971 Lisowski and Malaisse published a supplementary description, based on fresh material collected at five new sites on the Muhila plateau:

  • Stem: entirely underground or rising up to 40 cm above the soil, single or sometimes branched at the top; fleshy, resinous central part 12 to 16 cm in diameter, covered with very numerous contiguous scales (bases of old leaves), ovate, 5 to 8 cm by 4 cm, with a cottony beige down on the lower face; near the apex these scales become linear and reach 10 cm or more;
  • Leaves: 10 to 22, 60 to 85 cm long, widened at the base into a soft part 5 to 10 cm long; petiole 1 to 3 cm; petiole and rachis covered with a woolly beige down in young leaves, later with scattered hairs;
  • Leaflets: 50 to 85 on each side of the rachis, subopposite to alternate, linear-lanceolate; the median ones 10 to 11 cm long and 1.2 to 1.3 cm wide, hairless when mature, glaucous when fresh, with 17 to 23 parallel veins; no side spine (exceptionally one); the first 5 to 10 leaflets reduced to a simple, very rarely forked spine;
  • Male cones: three, ellipsoid to subcylindrical, 18 to 27 cm long and 5.5 to 7.5 cm wide when fresh (15 to 24 cm by 4.2 to 6.1 cm dry), on a short stalk 2.5 to 3.5 cm long; median scales 2.2 to 2.6 cm by 1.5 to 2.1 cm, angled upwards at 45 to 55°;
  • Female cone: a single one, almost stalkless, ovoid-cylindrical, 18 to 30 cm long and 10 to 14 cm wide, broadest in the lower third or quarter, dark green; scales and seeds described by Devred (1958), which has not been consulted.

The authors state that all the plants they saw were without an aerial trunk: the trunk 30 to 40 cm tall, sometimes branched, given by Devred contradicts the label of his own collection, which reads “plantes acaules” (stemless plants). They add that one or several leaves much smaller than the others are common.

Hybrids

No natural or cultivated hybrid of Encephalartos marunguensis is documented.

Possible confusion

Confusion is possible with the other species of what Turner, Sclavo and Malaisse (2006) call the “Encephalartos poggei complex”: Encephalartos poggei, Encephalartos schmitzii, Encephalartos schaijesii and Encephalartos delucanus, all from south-central Africa and all with no trunk or a short one. According to these authors, they look alike in habit but are distinguished without ambiguity by their cones (colour, shape of the scales) and their leaves (leaflets, angle of the leaves and leaflets). In practice, the locality of origin is the safest clue for a plant in a collection: Encephalartos marunguensis is known only from Haut-Katanga. Lisowski and Malaisse (1971) consider it close to Encephalartos schmitzii but distinct; Malaisse’s keys of 1969 separate the two species by their leaflets, with 17 to 25 veins in Encephalartos marunguensis and fewer than 17 in Encephalartos schmitzii, and by the scales of the female cone.

Taxonomy

Encephalartos marunguensis Devred is accepted by The World List of Cycads. René Devred described the species under the title “Une Cycadacée nouvelle du Congo belge: Encephalartos marunguensis Devred”. The World List of Cycads dates the publication to 1958 and places it in volume 91, pages 104 to 110, of the Bulletin de la Société royale de botanique de Belgique; Lisowski and Malaisse (1971) and Turner, Sclavo and Malaisse (2006) cite it as 1959, pages 103 to 108. The type (holotype) was collected by Devred himself under number 3924, on 18 July 1957, “in the immediate vicinity of Kapona”, on the Marungu plateaus, in Haut-Katanga; it is kept at Meise Botanic Garden (BR), with an isotype at Yangambi (YBI). Lisowski and Malaisse specify that it is a female cone. The species has no synonym.

In 1971 Lisowski and Malaisse devoted a note to it, entitled “Encephalartos marunguensis Devred, Cycadacée endémique du plateau des Muhila (Katanga, Congo-Kinshasa)”, in the Bulletin du Jardin botanique national de Belgique (41: 357–361, 30 September 1971). They place the type collection, made near Kapona, on the Muhila plateau, whereas The World List of Cycads refers to the Marungu plateaus; the original description, which would settle the point, has not been consulted. They cite five new sites, all on the Muhila plateau: 23 km north-west of Kansimba, at about 1500 m (Bulaimu 196, male cones); 1.5 km from Kaminga, near the Talala river, at 1390 m; 0.5 km from Kalobelobe, at 1690 m; 0.2 km from Kamabale, at 1480 m; and on Mwango mountain, 2 km from Kamibelo, at 1690 m (collections of 1970 and 1971).

Etymology and history

The epithet marunguensis means “of the Marungu”: it refers to the occurrence of the species in the Marungu Mountains, in the south-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Haynes, 2022, followed by The World List of Cycads). The history of its discovery comes down to the data of the type: a collection by Devred in July 1957, near Kapona. The description was published the following year, in the days of the Belgian Congo. No other episode of its history is documented.

Common names

The only English name, Marungu cycad, is given by Species+, the CITES database; it is a simple rendering of the scientific name. In Kitabwa, the local language, the plant is called “Kavunduvundu” and “Tusu” (Lisowski and Malaisse, 1971).

In the wild

According to The World List of Cycads and Species+, Encephalartos marunguensis occurs only in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the former province of Katanga. The IUCN action plan for cycads (Donaldson, 2003) also recorded it in Tanzania, but current reference databases do not accept this record.

Turner, Sclavo and Malaisse (2006) describe the habitats of the Encephalartos poggei complex: shrub to wooded savannas, open woodland and steppe savannas, under a climate with a dry season of four to seven months, on permeable or rocky soils. Lisowski and Malaisse (1971) found the species between 1390 and 1690 m, in wooded savanna and grassy steppe: near Kaminga, in wooded savanna with scattered, stunted trees (Afrormosia angolensis, Parinari curatellifolia, Terminalia mollis and others) whose grass layer had just burnt; near Kalobelobe, in dry grassy steppe; near the village of Kamabale, in degraded vegetation made up only of ruderal plants; and on Mwango mountain, at 1690 m, in a grassy steppe rich in subshrubs, dominated by the grass Hyparrhenia lecomtei and by Parinari capensis. They do not mention the nature of the soil. In 2003, the population was estimated at more than 1000 plants, in slight decline, threatened by habitat destruction (Donaldson, 2003).

Conservation status and regulation

Encephalartos marunguensis is listed as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List. The assessment by J.D. Bösenberg, dated 27 March 2020 and published in 2022, is the one cited by The World List of Cycads, under criterion B1ab(iii,v): a restricted extent of occurrence, a small number of locations, and a continuing decline in habitat quality and in the number of mature plants (author and date on Crossref, category on GBIF, consulted on 26 October 2026). The species had been listed as Endangered in 1997, then Near Threatened in the 2003 action plan.

Like every species of the genus, it has been listed in CITES Appendix I since 4 February 1977, and in Annex A in the European Union (Regulation (EU) 2026/1383, applicable since 29 June 2026). For imports from South Africa of artificially propagated plants (source codes A and D), the EU Scientific Review Group issued a positive opinion for caudices no more than 7 cm in diameter (2011) and a negative opinion above that size (2013). Species+ consulted on 26 October 2026: check the regulations in force.

Growing Encephalartos marunguensis

The cultivation of Encephalartos marunguensis is documented by a single reliable source, from Thailand. At the Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden, the curator of the cycad collection wrote in 2022 that the “seasonal deciduous species”, Encephalartos marunguensis among them, thrive there and cone every year, in raised beds filled with half sand, a quarter compost and a quarter coarse gravel.

Outdoor and in-ground cultivation

Outside the tropics, no outdoor planting is documented. The species comes from tropical savanna and grassy steppe at 1390 to 1690 m, where Lisowski and Malaisse found the grass layer freshly burnt at one site; no source gives a temperature limit, and a raised, very free-draining bed like those of Nong Nooch is the only documented planting method.

Container cultivation

No container-growing report has been published. The general rules for grassland Encephalartos with an underground stem apply: a deep pot, a mineral, free-draining mix, and reduced watering while the plant is resting. In Europe, the species appears only once on the French Fous de palmiers forum: a photo from 2017 shows a plant in a collection, without any location or growing conditions.

In cultivation in the UK, US and Australia

  • United Kingdom, United States and Australia: no botanic garden declares the species to BGCI, the Montgomery Botanical Center catalogue has no accession, and no other source mentions it there.

Only one institution in the world, in South Africa, declares the species to BGCI. In Italy, the Naples botanic garden grew two plants of Zairean origin in 1993–1994 (Gaudio et al., 1997); no recent source confirms that they are still there.

Propagation

Propagation is by fresh, fertile seed. At Nong Nooch, hand pollination of this species succeeds only with dry pollen; the method that injects pollen mixed with water into the female cone fails there. No data is documented on offsets. Seeds, like plants, fall under CITES Appendix I.

Pests and diseases

No disease or pest specific to Encephalartos marunguensis is documented. As with other Encephalartos, root rot threatens plants kept too wet, particularly during rest.

Cold hardiness

No cold-hardiness data exists for Encephalartos marunguensis. As with other Encephalartos, survivals in cold areas often concern young plants whose caudex is still underground, protected by the thermal inertia of the soil and sometimes by snow; nothing of the kind is documented for this tropical species, and adult plants do not benefit from this protection.

Mediterranean and European experience

No outdoor result is documented in France or Italy. Readers in Mediterranean climates, or in comparable climates such as coastal California or southern Australia, should treat it as a plant for a heated glasshouse, kept dry during its rest, until outdoor trials are documented.

United Kingdom, United States and Australia

The only published observation comes from the lowland tropical climate of Nong Nooch, in Thailand, where the species thrives. No cold value is documented elsewhere, and no USDA hardiness zone is given for the species in any source.

Toxicity and precautions

No toxicity data specific to Encephalartos marunguensis is documented, but the risk is documented for the genus: Encephalartos are toxic, and their seeds particularly so. The toxicity of one species of the genus, Encephalartos horridus, was demonstrated as early as 1944 by Van der Walt. Cycads contain toxic glycosides (cycasin, macrozamin), from which methylazoxymethanol is derived, a compound that affects the liver, the digestive tract and the nervous system. For another cycad, the sago palm (Cycas revoluta), the ASPCA reports vomiting, black stools, jaundice, bleeding gastroenteritis, liver damage and deaths in dogs, cats and horses.

Wear gloves to handle the seeds and their fleshy coat, pick up fallen seeds and keep plants and seeds out of reach of children and pets. If any part is swallowed, contact a poison centre, a doctor or a vet without delay.

Traditional uses

No traditional use of Encephalartos marunguensis is documented.

Frequently asked questions

Where does Encephalartos marunguensis grow?

In the south-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Haut-Katanga, on the plateaus of the Marungu Mountains, where the type was collected in 1957. A note of 1971 calls it endemic to the Muhila plateau, where it also places the type collection and five other sites, between 1390 and 1690 m. A presence in Tanzania was mentioned in 2003, but The World List of Cycads does not accept it.

Is it threatened?

Yes. The IUCN lists it as Vulnerable (assessment published in 2022), because of its restricted range and the decline of its habitat and numbers. In 2003 the population was estimated at a little over 1000 plants.

Can it be grown outside the tropics?

Only under glass, as far as is known, and the species is very rare in the trade. No outdoor result has been published outside the tropics; the only reliable report comes from a tropical botanic garden in Thailand, where it thrives.

Is it hardy?

No, or at least nothing suggests it: no cold data exists. As a tropical African species, it should be kept frost-free.

How can it be told apart from Encephalartos poggei?

By its cones, its leaves and its origin. The two species belong to the same group of short-trunked central African Encephalartos; specialists separate them by the colour and scales of the cones and by the shape and angle of the leaflets. Encephalartos marunguensis is known only from Haut-Katanga.

Is it poisonous?

Yes, it should be treated as poisonous. No study deals with this species, but toxicity is demonstrated in the genus and cycad seeds contain cycasin.

Further reading on Succulentes

Sources

Reference sites

Bibliography

  • Devred, R. (1958). Une Cycadacée nouvelle du Congo belge: Encephalartos marunguensis Devred. Bulletin de la Société royale de botanique de Belgique 91: 104–110. [Protologue; year and pages according to The World List of Cycads, 1959 and 103–108 according to Lisowski and Malaisse (1971) and Turner et al. (2006).]
  • Malaisse, F. (1969). Encephalartos schmitzii Malaisse, Cycadacée nouvelle du Congo-Kinshasa. Bulletin du Jardin botanique national de Belgique 39: 401–406. [Separation from Encephalartos schmitzii; cited by Lisowski and Malaisse (1971).]
  • Lisowski, S. & Malaisse, F. (1971). Encephalartos marunguensis Devred, Cycadacée endémique du plateau des Muhila (Katanga, Congo-Kinshasa). Bulletin du Jardin botanique national de Belgique 41: 357–361. https://www.cycad.org/documents/descriptions/Encephalartos/Encephalartos-marunguensis.pdf [Supplementary description from fresh material, sites and altitudes, habitats, vernacular names. Primary literature.]
  • Gaudio, L. et al. (1997). Enzyme polymorphism in Encephalartos Lehmann (Zamiaceae). Delpinoa 35–36: 55–64. https://www.ortobotaniconapoli.it/images/Delpinoa/Delpinoa_n_s_35-36_1993-94_%5B1997%5D/Delpinoa_35-36_1993-94_%5B1997%5D_055-064.pdf [Two plants of Zairean origin grown in Naples.]
  • Turner, I., Sclavo, J.-P. & Malaisse, F. (2006). Un nouvel Encephalartos Lehm. (Zamiaceae) de Zambie. Biotechnologie, Agronomie, Société et Environnement 10(3): 181–183. https://popups.uliege.be/1780-4507/index.php?id=1014 [Encephalartos poggei complex, habitats.]
  • Donaldson, J.S. (ed.) (2003). Cycads. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cycad Specialist Group, Gland and Cambridge. [Statuses of 1997 and 2003, numbers, threats, mention of Tanzania.]
  • Bösenberg, J.D. (2022). Encephalartos marunguensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T41936A51047671. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T41936A51047671.en [Current assessment (VU), dated 27 March 2020; cited by The World List of Cycads; author and date read on Crossref, category on GBIF.]
  • Lindstrom, A. (2022). The cycad collection at Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden, Thailand. CYCADS 6(1): 5–9. IUCN/SSC Cycad Specialist Group. [Growing in a tropical climate, dry pollination.]
  • Haynes, J.L. (2022). Etymological compendium of cycad names. Phytotaxa 550(1): 1–31. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.550.1.1 [Etymology of the epithet, via The World List of Cycads.]
  • Van der Walt, S.J. (1944). Recent investigations into the toxicity of plants, etc., in the Union of South Africa. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Science and Animal Industry 20(1). [Toxicity of Encephalartos horridus; genus-level data.]
  • 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.]