Zamia chigua

Zamia chigua is a cycad of the lowland rainforests of Colombia’s Pacific coast, in the departments of Chocó and Valle del Cauca. This species of the genus Zamia, described in 1854 by Berthold Seemann, is the Colombian Zamia that looks most like a fern: its leaves, up to 3 m long, carry up to 80 pairs of thin, overlapping leaflets. Its name comes from “chigua”, the word used in the Chocó for all cycads, which has caused much confusion. The mountain plants of western Panama once included in it are now treated as Zamia lindleyi. It is rated Near Threatened by the IUCN.

Key facts about Zamia chigua

  • Accepted name: Zamia chigua Seem. (1854), accepted by The World List of Cycads (version 2026.08.15) and by GBIF; POWO could not be consulted directly
  • Former names and synonyms: Aulacophyllum ortgiesii Regel (1876), Zamia princeps Rob. (1876), Palmifolium chigua (Seem.) Kuntze (1891); Zamia lindleyana H.Wendl. (1854) is a bare name (not validly published). Not to be confused with the former genus Chigua, now included in Zamia
  • Family: Zamiaceae, order Cycadales
  • Common names: no English name attested; “zamia helecho” (fern zamia) in Spanish-language horticulture; “chigua”, a general name for cycads in the Chocó
  • Natural range: Colombia (Chocó, Valle del Cauca)
  • IUCN status: Near Threatened (NT), criteria B1b(iii)+2b(iii), assessment published in 2022
  • CITES and other protection: CITES Appendix II (whole genus, since 1977; seeds exempt under annotation #4); Annex B in the European Union
  • Documented hardiness: no data (see Cold hardiness)
  • Light and soil: in the wild, lowland rainforest, between about 30 and 275 m according to the herbarium specimens cited by the Flora de Colombia; no cultivation data
  • Habit and adult size: trunk up to 2 m tall and 15 cm in diameter; 3 to 15 leaves 0.5 to 3 m long, with 40 to 80 pairs of leaflets
  • In the UK, US and Australia: no record in BGCI or in the online catalogues consulted
  • Toxicity: no data specific to the species; treat it as poisonous, like all cycads (see Toxicity and precautions)

How to recognise Zamia chigua

The fern-like look is the first clue: long leaves with very many thin, entire, overlapping leaflets, and a petiole and rachis densely covered with stiff, often branched prickles. The Flora de Colombia (Stevenson, 2001) describes it as follows:

  • Trunk: tree-forming, up to 2 m tall and 15 cm in diameter, with a striated surface, especially in large plants; it is rather heavy because of its abundant water-storing tissue. Cataphylls 3 to 6 cm long, triangular at the base with a lanceolate tip.
  • Leaves: 3 to 15, 0.5 to 3 m long; petiole up to 1 m, hairless, with very dense, usually branched prickles; rachis with 40 to 80 pairs of overlapping leaflets (fewer in young plants), prickly in its lower half.
  • Leaflets: stalkless, lanceolate and slightly sickle-shaped, the middle ones 10 to 30 cm long and 1 to 1.5 cm wide, not grooved, papery to membranous, with an entire margin.
  • Male cones: yellowish, cylindrical, 10 to 20 cm long and 2 to 3 cm in diameter.
  • Female cones: light brown, narrowly ovoid to cylindrical, 20 to 30 cm long and 8 to 12 cm in diameter.
  • Seeds: ovoid, red.

The flora also gives a chromosome number of 2n = 16 (Norstog, 1981), while explaining in the same treatment that the counts published under the name Zamia chigua by Norstog in 1980 and 1981 were in fact made on plants of Zamia roezlii (Norstog, 1986). No reliable count for the species is therefore available.

Hybrids

No hybrid, natural or garden-made, has been documented.

Possible confusion

The name itself is a source of confusion, since in the Chocó “chigua” means any cycad:

  • Zamia roezlii, from the same Pacific slope, has often been confused with Zamia chigua, even in chromosome studies (see above). According to Jones (1993), cited by the Gymnosperm Database, Zamia roezlii has grooved leaflets that are fewer and much less crowded.
  • Zamia lindleyi, from the mountains of western Panama: long regarded as the same species, so much so that the Flora de Colombia of 2001 still mentioned a disjunct population of Zamia chigua in the Chiriquí region of Panama, between 600 and 1,200 m. In 2012 Calonje and colleagues reinstated Zamia lindleyi as a distinct species; since then Zamia chigua has been treated as exclusively Colombian.
  • Zamia amplifolia, also from Valle del Cauca, has the opposite leaf: only 6 to 10 pairs of very broad leaflets (12 to 15 cm). The two cannot be confused as adults.
  • The former genus Chigua (now Zamia restrepoi) has nothing to do with this species beyond the name.

Taxonomy

Zamia chigua is an accepted name according to The World List of Cycads and GBIF; POWO could not be consulted directly. The species was described by the German botanist Berthold Carl Seemann in The Botany of the Voyage of H.M.S. Herald (6: 201–203, plate 43), in 1854. The lectotype is plate 43 of that work, chosen by Stevenson and Sabato in 1986.

In the second half of the 19th century the plant received other names, now regarded as synonyms: Aulacophyllum ortgiesii Regel (1876, in Gartenflora; holotype collected in Colombia by Gustav Wallis, Wallis 76, herbarium LE) and Zamia princeps Rob. (1876); in 1891 Kuntze called it Palmifolium chigua. Zamia lindleyana, published by Wendland in 1854 without a description, is a bare name. According to the Flora de Colombia, the confusion over the identity of Zamia chigua stems from the lack of typification of several Zamia and from the fact that many Colombian species are locally called “chigua”.

The transcriptome study of Lindstrom and colleagues (2024) included a sample from the Chocó and illustrates the species for its linear, parallel leaflets; its text does not discuss the position of the species, beyond confirming that the former genus Chigua is nested within Zamia.

Etymology and history

The epithet comes from “chigua”, the Spanish transcription of the indigenous name for cycads in Colombia (Haynes, 2022, cited by The World List of Cycads); the Flora de Colombia links it to the common name of Zamia in the Chocó.

The names published in the 1870s in gardening journals (Gartenflora, The Garden) suggest that the plant was already circulating in European collections, but no published source says so explicitly; this is a deduction. The World List of Cycads holds photographs taken in the wild in 2003, 2009, 2014 and 2015.

Common names

No English name is attested. According to the Flora de Colombia, the plant is known in horticulture as “zamia helecho”, “fern zamia”, for its appearance. “Chigua” is the common name for cycads in the Chocó and is applied to several species: it does not specifically mean Zamia chigua.

In the wild

Zamia chigua grows in the lowland rainforests of the Chocó and Valle del Cauca, on the Pacific side of Colombia. The herbarium specimens cited by the Flora de Colombia come from altitudes between about 30 and 275 m. According to the same flora, the species is relatively common, and known populations often produce seed, but its reproductive biology has not been studied. The biogeographic Chocó is one of the wettest regions in the world.

On the French forum Fous de palmiers, a French-speaking amateur back from Colombia reported in October 2012 that he had seen a “gigantic population” of Zamia chigua, together with a few Zamia roezlii.

Conservation status and regulation

Zamia chigua is rated Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List, in the assessment by Cristina López-Gallego published in 2022 (with an erratum in 2023), under criteria B1b(iii)+2b(iii): a limited range and a decline in habitat quality (The World List of Cycads; GBIF gives the same category; the Red List itself could not be consulted). In 2001 the Flora de Colombia named the destruction of its habitat as the only known threat.

Like all Zamia except Zamia restrepoi, Zamia chigua falls under CITES Appendix II, where the genus has been listed since 4 February 1977. International trade in the plants requires an export permit issued by the country of origin. The listing carries annotation #4: seeds, pollen, seedlings and tissue cultures obtained in vitro and transported in sterile containers are not covered by CITES. In the European Union the species falls under Annex B of Regulation (EC) No 338/97, whose current list is set by Regulation (EU) 2026/1383, applicable since 29 June 2026.

This general information does not replace the official texts: check the regulations in force before buying or exchanging plants, ask the seller for proof of origin and prefer plants raised from seed in cultivation.

Growing Zamia chigua

No documented recent growing experience and no verified advice specific to the species have been published. The detailed instructions that circulate (compost, humidity, minimum glasshouse temperatures) have no identifiable source and are not repeated here. Its habitat is lowland tropical rainforest, hot and humid all year.

Outdoor and in-ground cultivation

No outdoor cultivation has been documented outside its range. Only a frost-free, hot and humid tropical climate could be considered for planting out; this is a deduction from the habitat, not a tested result.

Container cultivation

No trial has been published. By analogy with its habitat, a pot plant would need warmth all year, high humidity, filtered light and a free-draining compost; with leaves up to 3 m long, an adult also needs a great deal of room. In cool climates this means a large heated glasshouse; this framework is deduced from the habitat and has not been confirmed by published trials.

In cultivation in the UK, US and Australia

In short: no living plant is documented in these three countries.

  • United Kingdom: no record in BGCI or in the online catalogues of British gardens (Edinburgh, Cambridge, Chelsea Physic Garden).
  • United States: no record in BGCI or in the online catalogue of Montgomery Botanical Center (queried on 24 October 2026). Several herbarium specimens cited by the Flora de Colombia are kept in American herbaria (FTG, MO, NY, US, F, SEL), but these are dried specimens, not living plants.
  • Australia: no record in BGCI or in the online catalogues of Australian gardens.

Outside these countries, BGCI lists three gardens: the Medellín and Bucaramanga (Eloy Valenzuela) botanic gardens in Colombia, and Fairy Lake Botanical Garden in Shenzhen, China (queried on 24 October 2026). A BGCI declaration shows that a garden held the plant at some point, not that it is alive today.

Propagation

No cultivation data. Like all Zamia, the species has separate male and female plants: both are needed to obtain seed, and in cultivation hand pollination is usually necessary. Seeds are exempt from CITES under annotation #4, but they must come from plants of legal origin.

Pests and diseases

No pest or disease specific to the species has been documented. In cultivation, scale insects are, as in all cycads, the commonest pest.

Cold hardiness

No measured data on cold tolerance exist for Zamia chigua. It lives in frost-free tropical lowland rainforest; the temperature thresholds that can be read online, like USDA zone 11, rest on no published measurement.

Mediterranean and European experience

No growing result has been published in France or elsewhere in Europe, in the ground or in a pot. The French forum Fous de palmiers mentions the species only for observations in the wild and questions of taxonomy (2012), and no dated frost episode concerns it. The Jardin zoologique tropical at La Londe-les-Maures, in the Var, has published no observation of this species. Even in a Mediterranean climate, it belongs in a warm glasshouse.

United Kingdom, United States and Australia

No dated growing report has been published. For a frost-free tropical forest plant, a heated glasshouse remains the only prudent choice in temperate climates.

Toxicity and precautions

No toxicity study specific to Zamia chigua has been published. The risk is, however, documented in the genus and in other cycads: Zamia contain toxic glycosides (cycasin, macrozamin), from which methylazoxymethanol is derived, and for Zamia furfuracea the ASPCA cites cycasin and BMAA, a neurotoxic amino acid, with vomiting, bloody diarrhoea and liver damage in dogs, cats and horses; the seeds are the most dangerous part. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, treat the plant as poisonous: keep seeds and leaves out of reach of children and animals, and wear gloves to clean seeds. If any part is swallowed, contact a poison centre, a doctor or a vet straight away.

Traditional uses

No traditional use specific to the species is documented. The name “chigua”, used for all the cycads of the Chocó, shows that local people know these plants, but no description of a food or medicinal use referring with certainty to Zamia chigua has been published.

Frequently asked questions

Why is it called “chigua”?

Because that is the name for cycads in the Chocó, written “chigua” in Spanish. The name was therefore applied to several species, and the confusion lasted a long time.

Does Zamia chigua also grow in Panama?

No, according to current taxonomy. The plants of the mountains of western Panama, once included in Zamia chigua, were recognised in 2012 as a distinct species, Zamia lindleyi.

What is the link with the genus Chigua?

None, apart from the name. The genus Chigua, described in 1990, has been merged into Zamia, and its species still recognised is now called Zamia restrepoi.

How can it be told from Zamia roezlii?

By its leaflets: 40 to 80 pairs, narrow (1 to 1.5 cm), entire, flat and overlapping, with a petiole and rachis covered with often branched prickles. Zamia roezlii has fewer, grooved and much less crowded leaflets (Jones, 1993, cited by the Gymnosperm Database). The two species were long confused, even in chromosome studies.

Is it endangered?

Moderately: the IUCN rates it Near Threatened (2022), because of its limited range and declining habitat.

Can it be grown in the UK?

Only under glass, as far as can be judged: no growing report exists, but it comes from frost-free tropical rainforest. A large, heated and humid glasshouse is the only reasonable option.

Is it poisonous?

It should be assumed so. No analysis has been made of this species, but the cycads studied contain serious toxins, especially in the seeds.

Further reading on Succulentes

Sources

Reference sites

Bibliography

  • Seemann, B.C. (1854). Zamia chigua. In: The Botany of the Voyage of H.M.S. Herald 6: 201–203, pl. 43. [Protologue; not consulted (Biodiversity Heritage Library inaccessible).]
  • Stevenson, D.W. (2001). Orden Cycadales. Flora de Colombia 21: 1–91. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. [Treatment of the species; online version read.]
  • Stevenson, D.W. & Sabato, S. (1986). Typification of names in Zamia L. and Aulacophyllum Regel (Zamiaceae). Taxon 35(1): 134–144. https://doi.org/10.2307/1221051 [Choice of the lectotype; cited by the Flora de Colombia, not consulted.]
  • Calonje, M., Taylor-Blake, A.S., Stevenson, D.W., Holzman, G. & Ramos, Y.A. (2012). Zamia lindleyi: a misunderstood species from the highlands of western Panama. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden 106: 419–437. [Reinstatement of Zamia lindleyi; not consulted directly.]
  • Jones, D.L. (1993). Cycads of the World. [Comparison with Zamia roezlii; cited after the Gymnosperm Database, not consulted.]
  • Lindstrom, A., Habib, S., Dong, S., Gong, Y., Liu, J., Calonje, M., Stevenson, D. & Zhang, S. (2024). Transcriptome sequencing data provide a solid base to understand the phylogenetic relationships, biogeography and reticulated evolution of the genus Zamia L. (Cycadales: Zamiaceae). Annals of Botany 134(5): 747–768. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae065 [Sample from the Chocó listed in Table 1; full text consulted.]
  • López-Gallego, C. (2022, erratum 2023). Zamia chigua. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T213253349A69843485. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T213253349A69843485.en [Current assessment (NT); reference taken from The World List of Cycads and Crossref, Red List page not consulted.]
  • 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; not consulted directly.]
  • 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 directly.]