Encephalartos senticosus

Encephalartos senticosus, the Jozini cycad, is a large cycad of southern Africa with glossy dark green leaves and toothed, prickly leaflets, which grows along the crest of the Lebombo Mountains, from south of the Jozini Dam in KwaZulu-Natal to north of Siteki in Eswatini. This species of the genus Encephalartos was only described in 1996, by Piet Vorster, who separated it from Encephalartos lebomboensis: many plants grown under that name, notably those rescued when the Jozini Dam was built, in fact belong to Encephalartos senticosus. The two species look very much alike and are told apart mainly by their cones. Assessed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, it has been heavily collected from the wild for landscaping. In cultivation it has a reputation as an easy, fast-growing and frost-resistant cycad, but no dated temperature record has been published for it.

Key facts about Encephalartos senticosus

  • Accepted name: Encephalartos senticosus Vorster (1996), accepted by The World List of Cycads (version 2026.08.15), GBIF and Species+
  • Former names and synonyms: no synonym; before 1996 these plants were called Encephalartos lebomboensis I.Verd.
  • Family: Zamiaceae, order Cycadales
  • Common names: Jozini cycad and Lebombo cycad in English, lebombobroodboom in Afrikaans (PlantZAfrica, Species+)
  • Natural range: crest of the Lebombo Mountains, from northern KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) to Eswatini, between 400 and 800 m; The World List of Cycads and Species+ also cite Mozambique
  • IUCN status: Vulnerable (VU A2acd), assessment by J.D. Bösenberg dated May 2020, published in 2022
  • CITES and other protection: CITES Appendix I since 1977, like the whole genus; Annex A in the European Union, with a positive EU opinion (2011) on artificially propagated plants from South Africa whose caudex does not exceed 15 cm in diameter
  • Documented hardiness: frost-resistant according to PlantZAfrica; no dated temperature record published anywhere (see Cold hardiness)
  • Light and soil: full sun or partial shade, well-drained soil (PlantZAfrica)
  • Habit and adult size: trunk up to 4 m tall and about 30 cm in diameter, often with suckers forming a clump; leaves 1.1 to 1.5 m, sometimes 1.8 m
  • In the UK, US and Australia: Kew and the National Botanic Garden of Wales; Montgomery Botanical Center (13 accessions), Fairchild, the Huntington, Lotusland, UC Berkeley and some ten other American gardens; Adelaide and James Cook University in Townsville, Australia (BGCI)
  • Toxicity: seeds toxic, as in all cycads (see Toxicity and precautions)

How to recognise Encephalartos senticosus

It is a large green Encephalartos with stiff, glossy leaves, a yellowish rachis and leaflets toothed on both margins. Vorster (1996) describes it as follows, completed by PlantZAfrica:

  • Trunk: upright but often leaning slightly, up to 4 m tall and about 30 cm in diameter, covered with the remains of leaf bases, with a slightly woolly crown; the plant often suckers at the base and forms clumps;
  • Leaves: 1.1 to 1.5 m, sometimes 1.8 m, stiff, straight to slightly arching, glossy dark green; petiole without spines, glabrous, 5 to 20 cm; rachis yellowish;
  • Leaflets: the median ones 2 to 3.5 cm apart, overlapping or not, directed towards the leaf tip at about 30°, very narrowly ovate, 12 to 18 cm (sometimes 8 cm) long and 1.4 to 2 cm (up to 2.7 cm) wide, with an acute, pungent tip, both margins usually toothed, rarely entire; towards the base of the leaf they become gradually smaller, the last ones reduced to prickles;
  • Male cones: three or four per stem, on a stalk up to 10 cm long, very narrowly ovoid, orange to orange-yellow, covered with a short tawny felt, 30 to 50 cm long and up to 10 cm wide; the face of the scales is drawn out into a drooping beak;
  • Female cones: two or three per stem, ovoid, pale apricot yellow, about 45 cm long and 22 cm wide, with smooth scales raised into a pyramid towards the central facet;
  • Seeds: with a bright red fleshy coat; a female cone releases 280 to 590 of them (PlantZAfrica).

According to Vorster, the cones appear in February and early March, pollination takes place in late April and early May, and the seeds fall in October and germinate a year later; PlantZAfrica has the cones appearing around December and the female cones breaking up in September and October. The male cone lengthens shortly before shedding its pollen, which is scant and clumps into small balls when one tries to sieve it (PlantZAfrica).

Encephalartos senticosus
Leaves of Encephalartos senticosus at the Jardin zoologique tropical, La Londe-les-Maures (Var, France).

Jungle Music, a nursery in southern California, describes a beautiful green-leaved cycad, fairly fast-growing, with full, lush, woolly crowns, woolly yellowish-tan female cones with smooth scales and yellowish-orange male cones; it gives leaves of about 2 m and stems of about 4 m, and notes that the plant produces basal suckers, but generally not many.

Hybrids

No natural hybrid of Encephalartos senticosus has been described, and Vorster (1996) reports none. Dyer (1965), who placed these plants in Encephalartos lebomboensis in the broad sense, noted near Pongola Poort, where they grow alongside Encephalartos villosus, young plants suggesting natural crosses; according to PlantZAfrica, this area, that of the Jozini Dam, now belongs to Encephalartos senticosus.

In cultivation, as with other Encephalartos, hybrids arise whenever several species cone at the same time: a plant raised from collection seed is not necessarily pure. On the French forum Fous de palmiers, for example, a grower admitted in January 2013 that he had mixed up his seeds of Encephalartos senticosus, Encephalartos natalensis and Encephalartos villosus at sowing.

Possible confusion

The essential distinction is from Encephalartos lebomboensis, under whose name the species was grown until 1996 and which it closely resembles in foliage. According to Vorster’s description (1996), the two species differ mainly in their cones:

  • Male cones: three or four per stem, on a stalk up to 10 cm long, with scales drawn out into drooping beaks in Encephalartos senticosus; usually solitary and sessile, with scales raised into a pyramid, in Encephalartos lebomboensis;
  • Female cones: two or three per stem, with scales raised into a pyramid in Encephalartos senticosus; solitary or rarely paired, with almost flat scales, in Encephalartos lebomboensis.

PlantZAfrica (fact sheet on Encephalartos senticosus, 2011) adds that the male cones of Encephalartos senticosus are woolly, those of Encephalartos lebomboensis never, and that its female cones have a rough surface, although the same fact sheet describes their scales as smooth further up. The 3 cm stalk that Verdoorn (1949) described on the male cone of the type of Encephalartos lebomboensis contrasts with the “sessile” cones that Vorster attributes to that species; the published sources do not explain this discrepancy. Without cones, identification rests on the origin of the plant, which is rarely known for plants in the trade: on the Fous de palmiers forum, in June 2009, growers hesitated between the two names for a young plant in a garden in the Alpes-Maritimes (south-east France), relying on the shape of the caudex, a character that the descriptions do not use.

PlantZAfrica also compares the species with Encephalartos natalensis, further south, whose basal leaflets are reduced to a series of spines and whose cones, two or three together, are orange-yellow to orange-red; Jungle Music mentions the same resemblance and points to the woolly crown and the woolly female cones of Encephalartos senticosus. In 2012, a grower in Ravenna (Italy) who thought he had bought an Encephalartos natalensis × Encephalartos woodii hybrid learnt from South African growers that his plant was more likely an Encephalartos senticosus or an Encephalartos msinganus (Tropicamente forum).

Taxonomy

Encephalartos senticosus is an accepted name in The World List of Cycads, GBIF and Species+. Piet Vorster described it in 1996 in the South African Journal of Botany (vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 76–79). The type (Vorster 2990, leaf and male cone scales) comes from north-east of Siteki, in the Mlawula reserve, Eswatini; the holotype is kept in Pretoria (PRE), with isotypes at Kew (K), Saint Petersburg (LE), St Louis (MO) and Fairchild Tropical Garden (FTG). Vorster also cites specimens from the Usuto gorge, Ingwavuma, the Jozini Dam, the Mkuze River and Utshaneni.

Vorster had shown in 1995 that the name Encephalartos lebomboensis, published by Inez Verdoorn in 1949, had been misapplied since its publication: in his view it refers to the plants of the Pongola valley and an isolated population in the Lebombo Mountains in Mpumalanga, whereas the plants of the Lebombo crest in northern KwaZulu-Natal and Swaziland formed an undescribed species. According to Vorster (1996) and the PlantZAfrica fact sheet on the species, Encephalartos senticosus occupies the top of the Lebombo range from south of the Jozini Dam to a few kilometres north of Siteki, where the northern population of Encephalartos lebomboensis takes over; the PlantZAfrica fact sheet on Encephalartos lebomboensis places this boundary 50 km north of Siteki. The sources read do not explain how Verdoorn’s type, from near Stegi (now Siteki), relates to this new boundary; Vorster’s 1995 article, which deals with it, could not be consulted. PlantZAfrica also notes that the split of Encephalartos lebomboensis into two areas is “disputed by some”. This page follows the two species accepted by The World List of Cycads. Vorster explained in his 1995 article why he gave them the rank of species rather than subspecies.

Etymology and history

The Latin epithet senticosus means “full of thorns”, a reference to the prickly margins of the leaflets (Haynes, 2022, via The World List of Cycads). The genus name Encephalartos means “bread in the head”, a reference to the starchy pith of the trunk.

In the 1960s, before the Jozini Dam on the Pongola was filled, several thousand plants were moved by the organisation “Operation Wild Flower” and distributed to public gardens and enthusiasts (Dyer, 1965). These plants entered the trade as Encephalartos lebomboensis, but now belong to Encephalartos senticosus (PlantZAfrica). According to Donaldson (2003), this rescue did not threaten the survival of the species.

Common names

PlantZAfrica gives Lebombo cycad and Jozini cycad in English, lebombobroodboom in Afrikaans, isigqiki-somkhovu and ujubane in Zulu and sijekwane in siSwati; Species+ gives Jozini cycad. The Zulu name isiGqiki-somkhovu, “pillow of the zombie”, was cited for Encephalartos lebomboensis in the broad sense by Palmer and Pitman (1972, via the Gymnosperm Database).

In the wild

According to Vorster (1996), Encephalartos senticosus is not rare along the top of the Lebombo Mountains, from south of the Jozini Dam in KwaZulu-Natal to a few kilometres north of Siteki in Eswatini. It is sometimes seen on very dry, sunny cliffs, but more often on the gentle slopes of the crest, among boulders and in clumps of bush, in more or less full sun, between 400 and 800 m. Vorster does not cite Mozambique; The World List of Cycads, Species+ and Donaldson (2003) include it in the range, and Jungle Music mentions isolated populations reported in Mozambique along the border with Eswatini.

Pollination is carried out by insects that carry pollen from one plant to another. The seeds are dispersed by birds, baboons, monkeys, rodents and bats, which eat their fleshy coat (PlantZAfrica).

Conservation status and regulation

Encephalartos senticosus is assessed as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List under criterion A2acd (a past population reduction, directly observed and linked to habitat decline and collecting). The assessment, by J.D. Bösenberg, is dated 20 May 2020 and was published in 2022 (The World List of Cycads, GBIF, Crossref). The Red List of South African Plants already listed it as Vulnerable in 2009 (Raimondo et al., cited by PlantZAfrica). Encephalartos lebomboensis, for its part, is assessed as Endangered (EN).

As early as 1996, Vorster wrote that huge numbers of plants had been removed from the wild over the previous fifty years for landscaping, that the species was far from being as abundant as it once was, and that its survival in the wild was a matter of concern. The IUCN action plan for cycads (Donaldson, 2003) classed it as Vulnerable, with 5,000 to 10,000 plants, a high decline, overcollecting as the threat, no reduction in habitat and populations present in protected areas. South Africa’s CITES Scientific Authority (SANBI) has published no non-detriment finding for the species.

Regulation, according to Species+ (consulted through its public API on 26 October 2026):

  • CITES: Appendix I since 4 February 1977, like the whole genus;
  • European Union: Annex A, current list in Regulation (EU) 2026/1383 (in force since 29 June 2026); positive opinion of the EU Scientific Review Group of 20 June 2011 on artificially propagated plants from South Africa, limited to plants whose caudex does not exceed 15 cm in diameter (this followed a negative genus-wide opinion of December 2010, lifted in March 2011); a new consultation covering the whole genus has been open since 16 September 2026;
  • past trade suspensions for wild plants from Mozambique (EU, 2008 to 2017; CITES, 2012 to 2018), no longer in force.

Any plant offered for sale must come from cultivation and carry the CITES documents required by the countries concerned (and, in the European Union, the EU documents). These notes do not replace the official texts: check Species+ and the national authorities before any purchase or import.

Growing Encephalartos senticosus

PlantZAfrica presents Encephalartos senticosus as a giant, fast-growing cycad, easy in the garden and frost-resistant, that prefers subtropical and warm temperate regions. It needs a well-drained soil, in sun or partial shade. In good conditions it reaches a sizeable plant in five to ten years, and it also makes a fine container plant. PlantZAfrica advises keeping young plants in shade for much longer than those of the Mananga form of Encephalartos lebomboensis.

Outdoor and in-ground cultivation

In southern California, Jungle Music recommends full or partial sun on the coast and inland, and partial sun or filtered light in desert areas, in a well-drained soil; it describes the species as easy, sun-loving and drought-tolerant, a good grower in the ground that reaches a good size in not too many years, and a showy plant that needs room, best placed in the middle or back of a planting without overcrowding. In France, growers on the Fous de palmiers forum showed the new leaves of their Encephalartos senticosus in 2010 and 2011, notably in Agen (south-west France), without stating how they were grown or giving any cold readings.

Container cultivation

PlantZAfrica recommends the species as a container plant. In cool climates, a large pot in a very free-draining mix makes it possible to keep the plant dry and frost-free in winter, and a vigorous plant soon needs a large container.

In cultivation in the UK, US and Australia

BGCI PlantSearch lists 31 institutions holding the species. In the United Kingdom, Kew and the National Botanic Garden of Wales declare it. In the United States, the Montgomery Botanical Center (Coral Gables, Florida) lists 13 accessions in its online catalogue, including one of 1978, one of 1995 and five of 2001; BGCI also lists Fairchild, the Huntington, Lotusland, Descanso Gardens, the San Diego Botanic Garden, the San Diego Zoo, UC Berkeley, Naples Botanical Garden, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Atlanta Botanical Garden, the National Tropical Botanical Garden, a garden on Lāna’i and the U.S. National Plant Germplasm System. In Australia, BGCI lists the Botanic Garden of Adelaide and James Cook University in Townsville. A BGCI listing records a declaration by the garden, not a living plant on display today. In Italy, the Orto Botanico of Messina listed it among its cycads in 2009. Jungle Music describes the species as rare but usually available and affordable, from seedlings to occasional large plants from older collections.

Propagation

Encephalartos senticosus is propagated from seed, which germinates about a year after it falls (Vorster, 1996; PlantZAfrica). As the species is dioecious, a male and a female plant coning at the same time are needed; the scant, sticky pollen does not lend itself to sieving. Before sowing, remove the fleshy coat of the seeds, wearing gloves, as it is poisonous. Basal suckers can also be separated. Seeds, plants and suckers are all covered by CITES Appendix I.

Pests and diseases

Published sources describe no pest specific to the species. In cool climates the main risk, as with other Encephalartos, remains root rot in cold, waterlogged soil.

Cold hardiness

PlantZAfrica describes the species as frost-resistant, while saying that it suits subtropical and warm temperate climates. No dated report with a temperature reading has been published for this species, in Europe or elsewhere. Observations published under the name Encephalartos lebomboensis before 1996, or by growers who do not separate the two species, may concern either. As with all Encephalartos, survivals in cold areas often concern young plants whose caudex is still small or underground, protected by the thermal inertia of the soil; adult plants with an aerial trunk do not benefit from this protection.

Mediterranean and European experience

No temperature record has been published in France or Italy. A plant is grown at the Jardin zoologique tropical in La Londe-les-Maures (Var, south-east France), the one shown in the leaf photograph above (March 2026), but no cold data have been published for it. Pending dated reports, planting out can only be tried in the mildest Mediterranean coastal areas, in very free-draining soil; elsewhere, a large container kept under cover in winter is safer. This applies equally to comparable climates such as coastal California and southern Australia, where frosts are light and infrequent.

United Kingdom, United States and Australia

  • United States: Jungle Music grows the species for southern California gardens and describes it as easy and drought-tolerant, without giving temperatures.
  • United Kingdom and Australia: no hardiness data have been published.

No USDA zone is documented for Encephalartos senticosus in a reliable source.

Toxicity and precautions

Like other cycads, Encephalartos senticosus contains toxic glycosides (cycasin, macrozamin), from which methylazoxymethanol is derived, a toxin affecting the liver and the nervous system; the seeds are the most dangerous part. Its leaflets are stiff and prickly. Wear gloves to handle 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

According to PlantZAfrica, Encephalartos senticosus is grown mainly as an ornamental; no traditional use specific to the species is described.

Frequently asked questions

Is Encephalartos senticosus frost-hardy?

Nobody knows precisely. PlantZAfrica describes it as frost-resistant, but no temperature reading has been published for a plant in cultivation. In the mildest Mediterranean-type climates it can be tried in the ground in very free-draining soil; elsewhere, grow it in a large container kept under cover in winter.

How can it be told from Encephalartos lebomboensis?

By the cones. In Encephalartos senticosus, the male cones, three or four per stem, are stalked and their scales are drawn out into drooping beaks, and the female cones, two or three per stem, have scales raised into a pyramid. In Encephalartos lebomboensis, the cones are usually solitary, the males sessile. Without cones, the two species are very hard to separate.

Does it grow fast?

Yes, for a cycad: PlantZAfrica says that it reaches a sizeable plant in five to ten years in good conditions, and Jungle Music also describes it as a fairly fast grower.

Can it be grown in a pot?

Yes. PlantZAfrica recommends it as a container plant. A pot allows it to be brought under cover during cold winters.

What does senticosus mean?

“Full of thorns” in Latin, a reference to the toothed, prickly leaflets.

Why are many “lebomboensis” in gardens actually Encephalartos senticosus?

Because the species was only separated in 1996. The thousands of plants rescued in the 1960s from the area flooded by the Jozini Dam were distributed as Encephalartos lebomboensis, but they come from the range now attributed to Encephalartos senticosus.

Is it poisonous?

Yes, especially its seeds, as in all cycads.

Further reading on Succulentes

Sources

Reference sites

Bibliography

  • Vorster, P. (1996). Encephalartos senticosus (Zamiaceae): a new species from northern KwaZulu-Natal and Swaziland. South African Journal of Botany 62(2): 76–79. [Original description: diagnosis, type, description, phenology, distinction from Encephalartos lebomboensis, distribution, conservation.]
  • Vorster, P. (1995). The identity of Encephalartos lebomboensis. In: Vorster, P. (ed.), Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Cycad Biology: 245–254. Cycad Society of South Africa, Stellenbosch. [Cited by Vorster (1996).]
  • Verdoorn, I.C. (1949). Encephalartos lebomboensis. The Flowering Plants of Africa 27: plates 1078–1079. [Description of Encephalartos lebomboensis, including the 3 cm stalk of the type’s male cone.]
  • Dyer, R.A. (1965). The cycads of southern Africa. Bothalia 8: 405–515. [Encephalartos lebomboensis in the broad sense, supposed hybrids near Pongola Poort, Jozini Dam.]
  • Palmer, E. & Pitman, N. (1972). Trees of Southern Africa. Balkema, Cape Town. [Zulu name, cited by the Gymnosperm Database.]
  • Claassen, I. (2000). Focus on Encephalartos senticosus P.Vorster. Encephalartos 63: 4–10. [Journal of the Cycad Society of South Africa, members only; cited by PlantZAfrica.]
  • Donaldson, J.S. (ed.) (2003). Cycads. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cycad Specialist Group, Gland and Cambridge. [Table of statuses, Jozini Dam.]
  • Raimondo, D. et al. (eds) (2009). Red List of South African Plants 2009. Strelitzia 25. SANBI, Pretoria. [National status, cited by PlantZAfrica.]
  • Bösenberg, J.D. (2022). Encephalartos senticosus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T41925A51046766. [Assessment cited by The World List of Cycads and Crossref.]
  • Haynes, J.L. (2022). Etymological compendium of cycad names. Phytotaxa 550(1): 1–31. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.550.1.1 [Etymology, via 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. doi:10.5281/zenodo.21958524 [Reference checklist; consulted.]