Encephalartos poggei

Encephalartos poggei is a central African cycad with a short or almost buried trunk, growing in the savannas of Kasai and Katanga, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in the province of Lunda Sul, in Angola. This species of the genus Encephalartos was described in 1878 by the German botanist Paul Ascherson, from plants and seeds brought back by the explorer Paul Pogge. Its glaucous leaves, 70 to 150 cm long, fall every year: it is a species with seasonal foliage. It is one of the few species of the genus listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, but it remains rare in cultivation and does not tolerate frost.

Key facts about Encephalartos poggei

  • Accepted name: Encephalartos poggei Asch. (1878), according to The World List of Cycads
  • Former names and synonyms: Encephalartos lemarinelianus De Wild. & T.Durand (1900)
  • Family: Zamiaceae, order Cycadales
  • Common names: Kananga cycad (Species+)
  • Natural range: Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kasai, Katanga) and Angola (Lunda Sul)
  • IUCN status: Least Concern (LC), assessment by J.D. Bösenberg dated 2 April 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 measured value; not hardy according to growers’ reports (see Cold hardiness)
  • Light and soil: in the wild, savannas and open woodland with a long dry season; in cultivation, a free-draining soil and filtered light in subtropical climates
  • Habit and adult size: globose to cylindrical trunk up to 1 m tall, leaves 70 to 150 cm long (Melville, 1957)
  • In the UK, US and Australia: no botanic garden declares it to BGCI; offered occasionally by a nursery in southern California
  • Toxicity: not studied for this species; a documented risk for the genus (see Toxicity and precautions)

How to recognise Encephalartos poggei

Encephalartos poggei is recognised by its short trunk, its glaucous leaves that narrow abruptly at the base and its almost entire leaflets. The most complete description is that of R. Melville, in his revision of the central African Encephalartos published in 1957 in the Kew Bulletin:

  • Trunk: globose or cylindrical, up to 1 m tall; Ascherson described it in 1878 as “almost spherical, barely rising above the ground”;
  • Leaves: 70 to 150 cm long and 14 to 27 cm wide, with 18 to 60 pairs of leaflets; the swollen base of the petiole is covered with a shaggy greyish down;
  • Leaflets: the median ones straight or sickle-shaped, 8 to 15 cm long and 7 to 13 mm wide, glaucous, ending in a sharp point, with 18 to 24 parallel veins; margins smooth or with one to four spiny teeth, usually near the base; towards the bottom of the leaf they pass abruptly into simple or forked spines, which stop about 5 cm from the base of the petiole;
  • Male cones: cylindrical, greenish to yellowish, 10 to 30 cm long and 3 to 7.5 cm in diameter, on a stalk 8 to 21 cm long;
  • Female cones: ovoid-oblong, green then salmon pink when mature, 17 to 23 cm long and 9 to 12 cm in diameter;
  • Seeds: red, ellipsoid to ovoid, 20 to 33 mm long.

Ascherson stressed the leaflets: most are entire or have a single strong tooth, on the upper margin and nearer the base than the tip. According to Vorster and Heibloem (1995), who draw on Goode (1989), the male cones of the Encephalartos poggei group all appear at the same time, rather than one after another as in other tropical species.

Hybrids

No natural or cultivated hybrid of Encephalartos poggei is documented.

Possible confusion

The most likely confusion is with the other species of what Turner, Sclavo and Malaisse (2006) call the “Encephalartos poggei complex”: Encephalartos of south-central Africa with no trunk or a short one, including Encephalartos marunguensis, Encephalartos schmitzii, Encephalartos schaijesii and Encephalartos delucanus. According to these authors, these species look alike in habit but are distinguished without ambiguity by their cones (colour and shape of the scales) and their leaves (shape of the leaflets and angle of the leaves and leaflets). Their ranges are separate, often limited to a few sites.

In his key of 1957, Melville separates Encephalartos poggei from Encephalartos hildebrandtii, a trunk-forming species of the East African coast, by its shorter leaves (70 to 150 cm against 2 to 3 m), which narrow abruptly at the base, and by its glaucous leaflets. In 1878 Ascherson also contrasted it with Encephalartos barteri and Encephalartos septentrionalis, whose leaflets carry 3 to 5 and 6 to 10 teeth on each margin.

Taxonomy

Encephalartos poggei Asch. is accepted by The World List of Cycads. Paul Ascherson named the species at a meeting of the Botanical Society of the Province of Brandenburg, published in 1878 in the Verhandlungen des Botanischen Vereins der Provinz Brandenburg (20: XXXV–XXXVI). He gave a short diagnosis there, intending to publish a full illustrated description elsewhere. According to Melville (1957), followed by The World List of Cycads, the type is a collection made by Pogge in 1876 in the Congo, between the Luisa and Casserigi rivers; where it is kept is not stated.

A single synonym is accepted: Encephalartos lemarinelianus De Wild. & T.Durand, described in 1900 (published in 1901) in the Bulletin de la Société royale de botanique de Belgique. Its type came from the right bank of the Lubi, collected by Le Marinel in 1891, grown at Lusambo and collected by Laurent in 1896; it is kept at Meise (BR). Melville placed it in synonymy with Encephalartos poggei in his 1957 revision. Turner, Sclavo and Malaisse (2006) considered biosystematic studies useful to clarify the rank of the taxa in the complex.

Etymology and history

The epithet honours Paul Pogge (1838–1884), a German explorer of central Africa, who discovered the species in 1876 (Haynes, 2022, followed by The World List of Cycads).

Ascherson’s text tells the story of the discovery. Pogge had gathered more than 400 plant numbers at Mussumba, capital of the Lunda ruler known as Muata Jamvo, and then on the way back to Malange, from December 1875 to October 1876. In a letter written on 3 May 1876 at Mona Cadinga, on the Lulua, he mentioned a plant he had seen only on the plateau between the Luisa and the Casserigi, rarer beyond the Calangi, absent beyond the Casserigi, and “characteristic of the Mussumba landscape”. He added that it certainly did not grow in Angola, since none of his porters had ever seen it.

Back home, Pogge described it to Ascherson as a plant with a “large tuber”, palm-like leaves and flowers like fir cones. Ascherson recognised an Encephalartos, which seeds brought back by the traveller confirmed; a complete specimen, with leaves, a female cone and male cones, arrived only several months later. It was then the fourth Encephalartos known outside southern Africa, after Encephalartos barteri, Encephalartos septentrionalis and Encephalartos hildebrandtii. The World List of Cycads nevertheless records the species today in Angola, in Lunda Sul.

Common names

Species+, the CITES database, gives the English name Kananga cycad, after a city in Kasai. No African vernacular name is documented.

In the wild

Encephalartos poggei grows in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Kasai and Katanga, and in Angola, in Lunda Sul (The World List of Cycads; in 1957 Melville cited Kasai, Lower Katanga and Angola). According to Turner, Sclavo and Malaisse (2006), the species of the Encephalartos poggei complex grow in shrub to wooded savannas, open woodland and steppe savannas on Kalahari sands, under a climate with a dry season of four to seven months, on permeable or rocky soils. A Californian nursery, citing the IUCN assessment by Bösenberg (2010), states that the plants grow in grassland, savanna mosaic and wooded areas, often as solitary individuals but sometimes in extensive colonies.

The IUCN action plan for cycads (Donaldson, 2003) estimated the population at about 50,000 plants, stable, with no identified threat and no population known in a protected area. Phenology, pollinators and seed dispersers are not documented.

Conservation status and regulation

Encephalartos poggei is listed as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List, according to the assessment by J.D. Bösenberg, dated 2 April 2020 and published in 2022, cited by The World List of Cycads (author and date on Crossref, category on GBIF, consulted on 26 October 2026). It already had this status in 2003. This reassuring rating changes nothing in the legal framework: 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 before any purchase.

Growing Encephalartos poggei

Encephalartos poggei is a plant for a heated glasshouse or a tropical climate, rare in collections and difficult in cool climates. At the Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden, in Thailand, the curator of the cycad collection wrote in 2022 that the “seasonal deciduous species”, Encephalartos poggei among them, thrive there and cone every year. The plants grow in raised beds, in a mix of half sand, a quarter compost and a quarter coarse gravel.

Outdoor and in-ground cultivation

Jungle Music, a specialist nursery in Encinitas, in southern California, on the contrary finds the species difficult in a subtropical climate: crowns stay sparse and discoloured, the plant may lose all its leaves in winter or die from the cold, and it burns in the sun outside the tropics. The nursery recommends filtered light or shade, below an established canopy, a loamy soil that drains well, and advises against the species wherever it freezes and in desert areas.

Container cultivation

No detailed container-growing report has been published. A grower in Belley (Ain) and Montpellier (Hérault), France, wrote on the Fous de palmiers forum in October 2011 that Encephalartos poggei is “not easy to keep in the early stages”. The general rules for the genus apply: a deep pot, a free-draining mix, and very little water while the plant is leafless.

In cultivation in the UK, US and Australia

  • United Kingdom, United States and Australia: no botanic garden declares the species to BGCI, and the Montgomery Botanical Center catalogue has no accession.
  • United States: the Encinitas nursery obtains a plant or two from time to time and notes that the species is rarely grown in southern California.

Only three institutions in the world declare the species to BGCI, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa. In Italy, the Naples botanic garden grew six 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 curator reports that the “wet” method, which injects pollen mixed with water into the female cone, fails with Encephalartos poggei, whereas it suits other species. No data is documented on separating offsets. Seeds, like plants, fall under CITES Appendix I.

Pests and diseases

No disease or pest specific to the species is documented. The annual loss of leaves is normal; too much water during rest, on the other hand, exposes the plant to rot.

Cold hardiness

Encephalartos poggei is not hardy: no cold limit has been measured, and the only precise cultivation report, from California, mentions leaf loss and deaths from cold in a subtropical climate. 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. In Europe the species is grown in a heated glasshouse or conservatory, kept dry during its winter rest; readers in comparable Mediterranean climates should do the same.

United Kingdom, United States and Australia

In the lowland tropical climate of Nong Nooch, the species thrives and cones every year. In coastal southern California, a subtropical climate with cool winters, the Encinitas nursery advises against it outside frost-free areas. No data is documented for the United Kingdom or Australia, and no USDA hardiness zone is given for the species in any source.

Toxicity and precautions

No toxicity data specific to Encephalartos poggei 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 poggei is documented.

Frequently asked questions

Where does Encephalartos poggei grow?

In central Africa: in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Kasai and Katanga, and in Angola, in Lunda Sul. It grows in savannas and open woodland subject to a long dry season. Pogge discovered it in 1876 on the plateau between the Luisa and Casserigi rivers.

Is it hardy?

No. No cold value has been measured, but a southern Californian nursery reports leaf loss and deaths in winter in a subtropical climate and advises against the species wherever it freezes. Outside the tropics it is grown in a heated glasshouse.

Why does it lose its leaves?

Because it is a species with seasonal foliage. The Nong Nooch garden lists it among the Encephalartos with seasonal foliage, and a Californian nursery notes that it loses its leaves in winter. A leafless plant is therefore not necessarily ill; watering should then be reduced.

How can it be told apart from the related central African species?

Mainly by its cones and leaflets. The species of the “Encephalartos poggei complex” look alike in habit, but their cones (colour, scales) and leaflets differ. In Encephalartos poggei, the glaucous leaflets are almost entire, with at most a few teeth near the base, and the mature female cone is salmon pink.

Is it threatened?

No, according to the IUCN, which lists it as Least Concern (2022). The population was estimated at about 50,000 plants in 2003, stable. Like the whole genus, it nevertheless remains in CITES Appendix I.

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. Keep seeds and plants out of reach of children and pets.

Further reading on Succulentes

Sources

Reference sites

Bibliography

  • Ascherson, P. (1878). Vorlage von mit Wolle eingeschleppten Pflanzen; Primula sisskimensis Hook.; und von afrikanischen Pflanzen von H. Soyaux und Dr. Pogge. Verhandlungen des Botanischen Vereins der Provinz Brandenburg 20: XXXV–XXXVI. https://archive.org/details/verhandlungendes1920bota [Protologue.]
  • Melville, R. (1957). Encephalartos in Central Africa. Kew Bulletin 12(2): 237–257. https://doi.org/10.2307/4114417 [Full description, key, type, synonymy of Encephalartos lemarinelianus, distribution.]
  • Vorster, P. & Heibloem, P. (1995). Encephalartos imbricans (Zamiaceae): a new species from Uganda. Novon 5(4). [Simultaneous appearance of the male cones in the Encephalartos poggei group, after Goode (1989).]
  • 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 and climate.]
  • 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 [Six plants of Zairean origin grown in Naples.]
  • Donaldson, J.S. (ed.) (2003). Cycads. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cycad Specialist Group, Gland and Cambridge. [Least Concern, about 50,000 plants, stable population.]
  • Bösenberg, J.D. (2022). Encephalartos poggei. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T41944A51043385. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T41944A51043385.en [Current assessment (LC), dated 2 April 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, annual coning, 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.]