Macrozamia moorei

Macrozamia moorei is a large trunked cycad from central Queensland, in eastern Australia, where it forms colonies on the rocky hills of the Springsure district and the Carnarvon Range. A species of the genus Macrozamia, it was described by Ferdinand von Mueller in 1881, who published it the same year as Encephalartos moorei, a name still found in older texts. It is the tallest species of the genus: its trunk can exceed 7 m and carries a crown of dull, slightly keeled, often grey-green leaves, with spines along the short petiole. Listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN, it is grown in botanic gardens in Australia, Britain and the United States, and outdoors on the French Riviera, where its leaves suffer from the first hard frosts.

Key facts about Macrozamia moorei

  • Accepted name: Macrozamia moorei F.Muell. (1881), accepted by The World List of Cycads (version 2026.08.15), the Australian Plant Census, GBIF and Species+
  • Former names and synonyms: Encephalartos moorei (F.Muell.) F.Muell. (1881); the New South Wales populations once included in Macrozamia moorei have formed the species Macrozamia johnsonii since 1992
  • Family: Zamiaceae, order Cycadales; section Macrozamia (Johnson, 1959)
  • Common names: “Zamia Palm” (Australian Plant Census), “Springsure zamia” (Royal Botanic Garden Sydney), “Carnarvon Gorge Macrozamia” (Mississippi State University)
  • Natural range: Australia, central Queensland, the Springsure–Carnarvon Range district
  • IUCN status: Near Threatened (NT, criterion A2c), assessment by J.D. Bösenberg dated August 2020 and published in 2022
  • CITES and other protection: CITES Appendix II (annotation #4); Annex B in the European Union; no listing under Australian threatened-species law (Atlas of Living Australia)
  • Documented hardiness: leaves scorched or lost at about −3 to −4 °C (26.6 to 24.8 °F) for French growers; a plant in the ground on the French Riviera kept its leaves, slightly scorched, at −6 °C (21.2 °F); no lethal temperature measured (see Cold hardiness)
  • Light and soil: in the wild, dry open woodland on shallow, rocky, poor soils; in cultivation, full sun and very free-draining soil
  • Habit and adult size: trunk 2 to 7 m tall (up to 8 m according to Jones) and 50 to 80 cm across; 100 to 120 leaves 1 to 2.5 m long
  • In the UK, US and Australia: grown at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan (accessions of 1994), Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and Montgomery Botanical Center; declared to BGCI by 47 institutions, including the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Glasgow Botanic Gardens
  • Toxicity: the whole plant is toxic, the seeds above all (see Toxicity and precautions)

How to recognise Macrozamia moorei

It is recognised by its massive aerial trunk and its dull, slightly keeled leaves, whose short, broad petiole bears many spines. The Flora of Australia (Hill, 1998) calls it the tallest species of the genus and sums up its distinctive features as somewhat dull, keeled leaves with short, broad petioles bearing numerous spines. Unless stated otherwise, the measurements below come from that flora.

  • Trunk: aerial, 2 to 7 m tall and 50 to 80 cm across, covered with old leaf bases. David Jones (1993), as cited by the Gymnosperm Database, records plants 8 m tall.
  • Leaves: 100 to 120 in the crown, 1 to 2.5 m long, dark green to grey-green, dull to semi-glossy, moderately keeled (a shallow V in section), with 120 to 220 leaflets.
  • Petiole: short (2 to 10 cm) and broad (22 to 30 mm at the lowest leaflet); the lower leaflets shrink gradually into spines. Johnson (1959) stressed that this long series of reduced leaflets runs almost to the base of the leaf.
  • Leaflets: simple, 20 to 35 cm long and 5 to 10 mm wide, with flat margins and a pungent tip.
  • Male cones: spindle-shaped, 30 to 45 cm long and 10 to 19 cm across; a single male plant can carry up to a hundred (Jones, 1993).
  • Female cones: ovoid, 40 to 80 cm long and 14 to 19 cm across, the largest in the genus according to Jones (1993).
  • Seeds: ovoid, 40 to 60 mm long and 30 to 40 mm wide, with red flesh.

On a young plant these features are not yet visible: only the origin of the seed then allows a reliable identification.

Macrozamia moorei
Macrozamia moorei grown in a garden at Le Lavandou, in the Var (southern France).

Hybrids

A natural hybrid between Macrozamia fearnsidei and Macrozamia moorei is recorded by the Australian Plant Census (as shown by the Atlas of Living Australia), but no description of it has been published. Johnson (1959) also reported apparent natural hybrids between “Macrozamia moorei” and Macrozamia lucida around Dalmorton, in New South Wales. The Dalmorton plants now belong to Macrozamia johnsonii, so in today’s taxonomy those hybrids probably involved Macrozamia johnsonii rather than Macrozamia moorei in the strict sense; this is a deduction, which no source states outright.

Possible confusion

The commonest confusion is with Macrozamia johnsonii, the species split from it in 1992.

With Macrozamia johnsonii

Both species have an aerial trunk and broad, spiny petioles. According to the Flora of Australia, Macrozamia johnsonii has leaves that are flat (not keeled) in section, mid-green and highly glossy, whereas those of Macrozamia moorei are keeled, duller and often grey-green. Origin is the best clue: Macrozamia moorei lives in Queensland, Macrozamia johnsonii only in northern New South Wales. A plant or a document from New South Wales labelled Macrozamia moorei before 1992 may well refer to Macrozamia johnsonii; the online flora of New South Wales (PlantNET) cites Macrozamia moorei only as a partial synonym of that species.

With Macrozamia communis

Macrozamia communis, the species most often sold in Europe, usually has no visible trunk, and its leaves are flat in section, with a petiole 12 to 40 cm long (Flora of Australia). Young plants are still often confused in the trade. On the French Fous de palmiers forum, a specialist noted in 2016 that the opposite leaflets of Macrozamia communis form an almost flat angle, whereas in Macrozamia moorei they form a sharper one; in 2018 he described the leaves of a “blue” Macrozamia moorei as much sturdier, arching and V-shaped in section. On the Italian Tropicamente forum, a grower summed up the same difference in 2008: keeled leaves in Macrozamia moorei, flat ones in Macrozamia communis, on well-grown plants.

With other species

Large imported plants are sometimes sold under other names: in 2018, on the Fous de palmiers forum, a Macrozamia offered as Macrozamia macdonnellii was identified by a specialist as a Macrozamia moorei or a Macrozamia johnsonii; in his experience, Macrozamia macdonnellii keeps very blue leaves even in a rainy climate. To an untrained eye the silhouette of an old plant can also recall a date palm, and the early botanists hesitated between Macrozamia and the African genus Encephalartos.

Taxonomy

Macrozamia moorei is an accepted species without a taxonomic synonym, but its nomenclatural history is somewhat tangled. Ferdinand von Mueller published it in March 1881 in the Australasian supplement of the Chemist and Druggist, under the binomial Macrozamia moorei, in an article entitled “Notes on a hitherto undefined species of Encephalartos”. In August 1881 he placed it in Encephalartos (Encephalartos moorei, Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 11: 125), citing his first name as a synonym. Johnson (1959) noted this hesitation and chose to treat the March 1881 name as validly published; had it not been, the first valid name in Macrozamia would have been that of Frederick Manson Bailey (1883). This is probably why a text by Len Butt (1993), reproduced on the PACSOA wiki, credits the name to Bailey; The World List of Cycads follows Johnson and keeps Mueller, 1881.

No type has been designated with certainty. In August 1881 Mueller cited plants from the stony hills at the sources of the Nogoa River, around Springsure, collected by J.G. Macdonald and P.A. O’Shanesy; Johnson (1959) did not see these syntypes and did not designate a lectotype. The World List of Cycads gives a possible holotype at Melbourne (MEL), without confirmation.

Johnson (1959) placed the species in section Macrozamia, where it forms a group on its own, and gave it two disjunct ranges: central Queensland and the Clarence valley in New South Wales. In 1992, David Jones and Ken Hill described the New South Wales plants as a distinct species, Macrozamia johnsonii (Telopea 5: 31–34). Since then, Macrozamia moorei in the strict sense has been a Queensland species only. For the reader, this means that works published before 1992, including Harden’s flora of New South Wales (1990), describe under this name a group that includes Macrozamia johnsonii. The chromosome number is 2n = 18 (Flora of Australia).

Charles Chamberlain (1913) devoted a whole paper to this species, struck by its many lateral cones, and saw in it a link with the fossil Bennettitales; Johnson (1959) judged the relationship distant.

Etymology and history

The epithet moorei honours Charles Moore (1820–1905), director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens from 1848 to 1896, who studied Macrozamia in the 1850s (Flora of Australia; Haynes, 2022, as given by The World List of Cycads). In his description of March 1881, Mueller noted that the species was grown by Charles Moore in the Sydney Botanic Gardens. Johnson (1959) recorded that plants in that garden, with trunks 2 m tall and 60 to 70 cm across, were less than a hundred years old in 1959, a sign of “fairly rapid” growth for a cycad.

Common names

The Australian Plant Census gives “Zamia Palm”, a name shared by several Macrozamia. The living-collection catalogue of the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney labels the species “Springsure zamia”, after the town at the heart of its range, and a Mississippi State University extension publication calls it “Carnarvon Gorge Macrozamia”. The name “Moore’s Cycad”, sometimes quoted, is not documented by any reference source. In France the trade name “cycas de Moore” is used, although the plant is not a Cycas.

In the wild

Macrozamia moorei is endemic to central Queensland. The Flora of Australia confines it to the Springsure–Carnarvon Range district, where it is locally abundant in dry open woodland, on shallow, rocky, usually poor soils. Len Butt’s text (1993), reproduced by the PACSOA, places it west of Rockhampton, around Emerald and Springsure, south past Rolleston to Injune, and in Carnarvon Gorge, where it dominates the scene from the entrance of the national park to the foot of the cliffs, with plants whose trunks reach at least 4 m. The same text mentions an occurrence in the Clarence valley, in New South Wales: these are the plants since described as Macrozamia johnsonii.

The climate of its range is continental. According to Jones (1993), as cited by the Gymnosperm Database, temperatures range from 21 to 35 °C (69.8 to 95 °F) in summer and from 6 to 23 °C (42.8 to 73.4 °F) in winter; heavy frosts are frequent, and rainfall, about 500 mm a year, falls mainly in summer. The species grows in large colonies, often on spectacular rocky sites. According to the same source, plants produce their first cones only at about 50 years of age; the Gymnosperm Database infers that the largest plants could be several centuries old.

Conservation status and regulation

Macrozamia moorei is listed as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List under criterion A2c, which refers to a population decline inferred from the loss or degradation of its habitat. The assessment, by J.D. Bösenberg, is dated 21 August 2020 and was published in 2022; an earlier assessment, by P. Forster, was published in 2010 (The World List of Cycads, GBIF and Crossref, checked on 26 October 2026). The Atlas of Living Australia, which compiles the national and state threatened-species lists, shows no listing for it.

Like all Zamiaceae, it falls under CITES Appendix II, with annotation #4 (listing in force on 5 March 2026), and under Annex B in the European Union (Species+, checked on 26 October 2026). Buy plants or seeds of documented origin, and check the regulations in force before any import.

Growing Macrozamia moorei

Macrozamia moorei is a plant for full sun and very free-draining soil. Jones (1993), as cited by the Gymnosperm Database, describes it as hardy in cultivation, preferring full sun and tolerating heavy frosts, and says it transplants readily; Mississippi State University also lists it for full sun.

Outdoor and in-ground cultivation

  • Light: full sun. On the Fous de palmiers forum, a grower in the Var (southern France) reported in March 2021 that his two Macrozamia moorei in full sun “seem happy”, and another member considered that the species likes sun, even in the south of France, more than Macrozamia communis does. At the Jardin des plantes in Montpellier, the plant in the ground stands in full sun at the foot of a south-facing wall.
  • Water: at the Jardin zoologique tropical in La Londe-les-Maures, in the Var, where the species is grown, experience with Macrozamia shows that watering once a week in summer, when there is no rain, is a minimum and twice a week ideal; regular watering clearly improves the look and growth of the plants. This Mediterranean experience is useful for gardens with a similar climate, such as coastal California or southern Australia.
  • Feeding: the same garden sees deficiencies of magnesium, manganese or iron in some species of the genus (yellow-green or yellow-spotted leaves), which a complete, balanced fertiliser usually corrects.
  • Growth rate: sources disagree. Johnson (1959) found it fairly rapid for a cycad, whereas French sellers describe it as slow to very slow; in any case, young plants take many years to form a trunk.

Container cultivation

In a pot, choose a deep container, as the taproot is fragile, and a very free-draining mix; in cold regions, overwinter the plant frost-free and in good light.

In cultivation in the UK, US and Australia

  • Australia: the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney’s Garden Explorer lists 14 plants in several beds, from accessions made between 1996 and 2015, many of wild origin (updated 1 October 2026), and the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan lists 15, all of wild origin, from accessions of 1994 (updated 15 October 2026). The census of Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, downloaded on 19 October 2026, records five plants at Melbourne, two of wild origin planted in 2005 (Aloe Bed and Eastern Lawn) and three planted in the Australian Drylands bed in 2024. In February 2004 the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra received large Macrozamia moorei salvaged by a nursery during road clearing in Queensland, to enhance its main entrance and Rainforest Gully display. The Botanic Garden of South Australia, Booderee, Burrendong, Myall Park, the National Arboretum Canberra and Cairns also declare it to BGCI.
  • United States: Montgomery Botanical Center (Coral Gables, Florida) holds seven accessions in its online catalogue, five of them dated 2001 to 2004 by their numbers. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Lotusland, the Los Angeles County Arboretum, San Diego Botanic Garden, the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, the Lincoln Park Conservatory in Chicago and four gardens in Hawaii and Florida also declare it to BGCI.
  • United Kingdom: the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh lists it in its Garden Explorer, Glasgow Botanic Gardens declares it to BGCI, and the Cambridge University Botanic Garden catalogue holds an accession of 2004.

Forty-seven institutions in all declare the species to BGCI (checked on 26 October 2026). A BGCI listing records a declaration by the garden, not necessarily a living plant on display today. No English-language grower’s report with a date, a place and a temperature has been found.

Propagation

Macrozamia moorei is propagated by seed. The plant produces no useful offsets, and a male and a female plant are needed, with hand pollination outside Australia, to obtain fertile seed. Clean the seeds of their flesh wearing gloves, then sow them in a free-draining mix, in warmth. No protocol specific to the species has been published.

Pests and diseases

Scale insects are the problem most often mentioned in cultivation. In August 2026, a grower in Six-Fours-les-Plages (Var, France) reported on the Fous de palmiers forum that a young Macrozamia moorei the size of a fist lost its growing point after a heavy mealybug attack. Rots of the collar and roots threaten plants in heavy, wet soil, above all in winter. No study specific to the species has documented its pests in Europe.

Cold hardiness

The leaves of Macrozamia moorei are marked from −3 to −4 °C (26.6 to 24.8 °F) for several French growers, but the plant itself survives harder frosts; no lethal temperature has been measured. In its natural range heavy frosts are frequent but brief, and followed by warm days. Mississippi State University places it in USDA zone 9a and gives it as “reportedly hardy to about 20–21 °F” (about −6.7 to −6.1 °C), without naming its sources. Jones (1993) describes it as tolerating heavy frosts in cultivation, without a figure.

Mediterranean and European experience

The reports below come from the Fous de palmiers forum (France); they are amateur observations, of indicative value only.

  • Roussillon: a grower reports that a fairly large plant in a pot, left outdoors, came through −4 °C (24.8 °F) in early December 2012 with no damage to the leaves, whereas his Macrozamia communis, in the same conditions, had strongly purpled leaflets.
  • French Riviera, hinterland between Cannes and Grasse: in December 2009, with a minimum of −4 °C (24.8 °F), a grower found scorched, but not burnt, leaves on his Macrozamia moorei and Macrozamia communis in the ground without protection. The same grower wrote at the time that his Macrozamia moorei in the ground had withstood −6 °C (21.2 °F) with only slightly scorched leaves, without giving the year of that episode.
  • Montpellier: at the Jardin des plantes, a Macrozamia moorei from the Martins glasshouse was planted in the ground, sheltered by the boundary wall, when the glasshouse was rebuilt (visit by the Hortus association on 24 November 2012). In 2015, a forum member noted that the crown is wrapped in horticultural fleece in winter.
  • Var, near the sea: a grower reported in 2017 having had −3 °C (26.6 °F) twice; he went on to grow two plants in full sun, which he described in good shape in 2021, without a cold figure.
  • Gironde (Saint-Médard-de-Guizières, inland south-western France): a grower tried a plant with a 40 cm caudex outdoors in the winters of 2013–2014 and 2014–2015; it lost its leaves at about −3 to −4 °C (26.6 to 24.8 °F) and went back to a frost-free glasshouse. In 2020 he described it as still alive but very slow to recover, and judged the species not worth trying in a cool climate without a sheltered spot.

At the Jardin zoologique tropical, experience shows that a dry frost is less dangerous than the same frost after a spell of rain, when soil and plant are waterlogged: perfectly drained soil is essential, and light protection (fleece, a dry mulch, shelter from rain) helps when frost is forecast. The garden has not published a minimum temperature endured by its plants. In Italy, the University of Palermo lists the species among the notable plants of the outdoor Cycadetum of its botanic garden, in Sicily.

United Kingdom, United States and Australia

No grower’s result with a temperature has been published in English. In Britain, the plants on record are in botanic-garden collections; in Canberra, the plants received in 2004 grow in a city with cold winters, but no source describes how they have fared.

Toxicity and precautions

Yes, Macrozamia moorei is toxic, like all cycads, and the seeds are the most dangerous part. Macrozamia contain toxic glycosides (cycasin, macrozamin), from which methylazoxymethanol is derived, a toxin of the liver and the nervous system. According to Ladd et al. (1993), as cited by Asmussen (2011), the seed kernel of Macrozamia moorei contains about 3.7% macrozamin (fresh weight), one of the highest levels among the six Macrozamia species analysed. In Australia, Macrozamia poison livestock: the seeds damage the liver and gut, and cattle that eat the leaves develop a gait disorder of the hind legs (Healy, 1967), which farmers in New South Wales call “Burrawang staggers” (Glassop and Gill, 2007). No case specific to Macrozamia moorei has been documented.

Wear gloves to clean the seeds, pick up those that fall and keep them out of reach of children, dogs and cats. In case of ingestion, contact a poison centre, a doctor or a vet without delay.

Traditional uses

According to the Flora of Australia, the seeds of Macrozamia moorei were eaten by Aboriginal people after being soaked and baked to remove the poisonous substances. Asmussen’s review (2011), which brings together the written records of Macrozamia consumption, does not, however, list this species among those whose use is documented. These preparations rely on traditional know-how: never eat cycad seeds.

Frequently asked questions

Is Macrozamia moorei frost-hardy?

Partly. Its leaves are damaged from about −3 to −4 °C (26.6 to 24.8 °F) for several growers, but a plant on the French Riviera kept its leaves at −6 °C (21.2 °F), and no lethal temperature has been measured. Mississippi State University places it in USDA zone 9a.

My plant lost its leaves after a frost: is it dead?

Not necessarily. In south-western France, a plant that lost its leaves at about −3 to −4 °C (26.6 to 24.8 °F) was still alive five years later, though it recovered very slowly. Wait for the warm season before deciding, and check that the growing point is still firm.

How do I tell it from Macrozamia johnsonii?

By the leaves and the origin. The leaves of Macrozamia moorei are keeled, dull and often grey-green; those of Macrozamia johnsonii are flat and very glossy. Macrozamia moorei comes from Queensland, Macrozamia johnsonii from New South Wales.

How do I tell it from Macrozamia communis?

Mainly by the trunk and the leaf section. Macrozamia communis usually has no visible trunk, and its leaves are flat, with a long petiole; Macrozamia moorei forms a trunk and carries keeled leaves with a short, spiny petiole.

Sun or shade?

Sun. In the wild it grows in open woodland, and both the cultivation literature and growers in southern France recommend full sun, unlike Macrozamia communis, which takes partial shade better.

How tall does it grow?

Very tall for a cycad. The Flora of Australia gives a trunk 2 to 7 m tall, and Jones (1993) records plants of 8 m, but growth to that size takes decades: plants are said to cone for the first time only at about 50 years of age.

Is it poisonous?

Yes, like all cycads, the seeds above all. It is dangerous to children, pets and livestock; contact a poison centre at once in case of ingestion.

Is it endangered?

It is Near Threatened according to the IUCN (assessment published in 2022), because of the decline of its habitat. Its international trade is regulated under CITES Appendix II.

Further reading on Succulentes

Sources

Reference sites

Bibliography

  • Mueller, F. von (1881). Notes on a hitherto undefined species of Encephalartos. Chemist and Druggist, Australasian Supplement 4: 84–85. [Original description; cited after Johnson (1959) and The World List of Cycads.]
  • Chamberlain, C.J. (1913). Macrozamia moorei, a connecting link between living and fossil cycads. Botanical Gazette 55(2): 141–154. doi:10.1086/331004 [Lateral cones and Bennettitales, after Johnson (1959); reference checked on Crossref.]
  • Johnson, L.A.S. (1959). The families of cycads and the Zamiaceae of Australia. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 84: 64–117. [Section, typification, the 1881 names, former range, growth in the Sydney garden; full text (copy published by The World List of Cycads).]
  • Jones, D.L. & Hill, K.D. (1992). Macrozamia johnsonii, a new species of Macrozamia section Macrozamia (Zamiaceae) from northern New South Wales. Telopea 5(1): 31–34. doi:10.7751/telopea19924957 [Separation of the New South Wales populations; reference checked on Crossref.]
  • Jones, D.L. (1993). Cycads of the World. Reed, Chatswood. [Climate, dimensions, cones, cultivation; cited after the Gymnosperm Database.]
  • Hill, K.D. (1998). Cycadophyta. In: McCarthy, P.M. (ed.), Flora of Australia 48: 597–661. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne. [Reference treatment; online version.]
  • Maddox, V. & Kelly, L. (2020). Palms & Cycads for the Midsouth Landscape. Publication 2948 (POD-05-20). Mississippi State University Extension Service. [Zone, light and reported hardiness.]
  • Glassop, A. & Gill, P. (2007). Burrawang palm hepatopathy in cattle. Flock & Herd: https://flockandherd.net.au/cattle/reader/burrawong-palm.html [The name “Burrawang staggers”.]
  • Healy, P.J. (1967). Macrozamia poisoning. Reprinted by Flock & Herd: https://flockandherd.net.au/archive/transcribed/1967/reader/macrozamia-poisoning.html [Livestock poisoning by the genus.]
  • Asmussen, B. (2011). “There is likewise a nut…” A comparative ethnobotany of Aboriginal processing methods and consumption of Australian Bowenia, Cycas, Macrozamia and Lepidozamia species. Technical Reports of the Australian Museum, Online 23(10): 147–163. doi:10.3853/j.1835-4211.23.2011.1575 [Macrozamin content after Ladd et al. (1993), Aboriginal uses; full text.]
  • Bösenberg, J.D. (2022). Macrozamia moorei. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T42014A48869249. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T42014A48869249.en [Near Threatened (A2c); assessment dated 21 August 2020, from Crossref.]
  • Haynes, J.L. (2022). Etymological compendium of cycad names. Phytotaxa 550(1): 1–31. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.550.1.1 [Etymology, as 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. doi:10.5281/zenodo.21958524 [Reference list.]