Zamia lindenii

Zamia lindenii is a cycad of western Ecuador and the far north-west of Peru (Tumbes), recorded in nine Ecuadorian provinces from the Pacific lowlands to the foothills of the Andes. Introduced to Europe in the nineteenth century by the horticulturist Jean Linden, who had received plants from the collector Benedikt Roezl, this species of the genus Zamia was described in 1875 and for a time placed in the genus Aulacophyllum. Unlike many Zamia, it can form a real trunk. The IUCN rates it Endangered (2022 assessment).

Key facts about Zamia lindenii

  • Accepted name: Zamia lindenii Regel ex André (1875), accepted by The World List of Cycads (version 2026.08.15), by GBIF and by the World Checklist of Vascular Plants on which POWO is based; POWO could not be consulted directly
  • Former names and synonyms: Aulacophyllum lindenii (Regel ex André) Regel (1876)
  • Family: Zamiaceae, order Cycadales
  • Common names: no name attested, in English or in Spanish
  • Natural range: Ecuador (Azuay, Bolívar, Chimborazo, El Oro, Esmeraldas, Guayas, Los Ríos, Manabí, Pichincha), Peru (Tumbes)
  • IUCN status: Endangered (EN B2ab(iii)), 2022 assessment
  • 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 cold data; leaves of shade-raised plants scorched by direct sun (see Cold hardiness)
  • Light and soil: in the wild, often under forest canopy; in cultivation, filtered light and a rich, free-draining soil according to a nursery
  • Habit and adult size: no published botanical description could be consulted; trunks of about 1.5 m seen in one wild population, and up to more than 3 m (10 ft) according to a nursery, with leaves 1.8 to 2.4 m long
  • In the UK, US and Australia: 13 American gardens in BGCI, including Montgomery Botanical Center (two accession numbers), Fairchild, the Huntington, Lotusland and the University of California Botanical Garden; Cairns Botanic Gardens; no British record
  • Toxicity: no data specific to the species; treat it as poisonous, like all cycads (see Toxicity and precautions)

How to recognise Zamia lindenii

In short, it is a large, trunk-forming Zamia with long, flat leaves and smooth leaflets, but no published botanical description could be consulted: the original description (plate 195 of L’Illustration horticole, 1875) is held by the Biodiversity Heritage Library, which could not be accessed, and the recent literature is behind a paywall. The characters below come from a nursery and from field observations by amateurs, and should be read as such.

The American nursery Jungle Music describes a large cycad with trunks over 10 ft (3 m) tall and 6 to 10 in (15 to 25 cm) in diameter, rather smooth and brown; a crown of well over ten leaves 6 to 8 ft (1.8 to 2.4 m) long at maturity, flat in cross-section, with a petiole of 2 to 3 ft (60 to 90 cm) and about 30 to 40 pairs of leaflets, each about 1 ft (30 cm) long and 2 in (5 cm) wide, dark green especially in shade, with a few teeth at the tip.

A French amateur who visited several wild populations in Ecuador in 2012 reports, on the Fous de palmiers forum, plants with trunks of about 1.5 m in one of them, and elsewhere dug-up plants whose underground stem measured 20 to 30 cm, pulled down over the years by contractile roots. He uses the smooth leaflets to tell young Zamia lindenii from seedlings of species with pleated (plicate) leaflets such as Zamia hamannii or Zamia nesophila, and describes the fleshy seed coat as pink, then orange-red when ripe, as in most Zamia.

Hybrids

No hybrid is documented in the scientific literature. The same amateur suggests, as a personal opinion, that the plant sold as Zamia sp. “Emerald”, whose seeds are yellow when ripe, might be a hybrid between Zamia roezlii and Zamia lindenii; no study confirms this hypothesis.

Possible confusion

The most frequent confusion in the trade is with Zamia poeppigiana, a Peruvian species: a member of the Fous de palmiers forum reported in 2014 that seed sold under that name by a major seed merchant was in fact Zamia lindenii, a species far more common in cultivation. The World List of Cycads also cites, under Zamia lindenii, the paper by Calonje and colleagues (2011) that discusses the “Zamia poeppigiana species complex”.

At the seedling stage, its smooth leaflets distinguish it from the Central American Zamia with pleated leaflets that amateurs often sow at the same time.

Taxonomy

Zamia lindenii is an accepted name according to The World List of Cycads, GBIF and the World Checklist of Vascular Plants, on which POWO is based (read on GBIF, version of 4 June 2026); POWO itself could not be consulted. The name, attributed to Eduard Regel, was published in 1875 by Édouard André in L’Illustration horticole (volume 22, page 23, plate 195), the journal of Jean Linden’s nursery. In 1876 Regel placed it in a new genus, Aulacophyllum, as Aulacophyllum lindenii (Gartenflora 25: 141); that genus is no longer recognised, and The World List of Cycads treats it as a synonym of Zamia.

The type is plate 195 itself, designated as lectotype by Stevenson and Sabato (1986), supported by an epitype kept at Kew, a plant from Roezl grown by Linden (“Ecuador, ex hort Linden”), designated by Lindström (2009).

Relationships. The transcriptome phylogeny of Lindstrom and colleagues (2024) included a plant from Los Ríos province, in Ecuador.

Etymology and history

The epithet honours Jean Jules Linden (1817-1898), a horticulturist who received plants of this species from the collector Benedikt Roezl and introduced them into cultivation (The World List of Cycads, after Haynes, 2022).

The species has therefore been known in Europe since the nineteenth century. A Czech member of the Fous de palmiers forum, an organiser of European cycad conferences, claimed in 2010 that a Danish garden holds the oldest Zamia lindenii in Europe; BGCI does list the Natural History Museum of Denmark (the Copenhagen botanic garden) among the gardens that declare the species, but no source gives the age of its plant.

Common names

No common name is attested for this species, in English or in Spanish.

In the wild

The World List of Cycads places Zamia lindenii in nine provinces of western Ecuador (Azuay, Bolívar, Chimborazo, El Oro, Esmeraldas, Guayas, Los Ríos, Manabí and Pichincha) and in the department of Tumbes, in Peru. No published habitat study could be consulted, and the available accounts differ: the nursery Jungle Music places it in mountainous areas above 3,000 ft (about 900 m), whereas the French amateur presents it as typical of the dry forests of the Pacific coast of Ecuador.

His account, published on the Fous de palmiers forum in 2012, gives field observations that should be read as a personal testimony:

  • he did not find plants near the original type locality, where the forest has given way to cacao plantations;
  • one population, at about 1,500 m, grew by a small river on almost desert-like slopes covered with Tillandsia, Puya and cacti, with trunks of about 1.5 m; a path opened by hunters had damaged many plants, and a dam was planned;
  • another, two hours’ drive away and much lower down, occupied green, humid hills, also by a river; it was threatened by expanding banana plantations and by landslides, one of which had killed two old female plants;
  • most plants grow in the shade of the canopy, with little light.

One published observation concerns its cones. Describing Zamia gentryi in 1998, Calaway H. Dodson noted that at the Río Palenque Science Center, in Ecuador, beetles commonly visit the “powerfully fragrant” cones of the Zamia lindenii plants that grow naturally at the site, whereas the cones of Zamia gentryi grown there gave off no noticeable scent and attracted no beetles (Dodson, 1998). He did not identify the beetles, and no pollination study of Zamia lindenii has been published.

Conservation status and regulation

Zamia lindenii is rated Endangered (EN) by the IUCN under criteria B2ab(iii), in an assessment by Cristina López-Gallego published in 2022 (The World List of Cycads; GBIF gives the same category). These criteria mean a small area of occupancy, a severely fragmented population or few locations, and a decline in habitat quality. The threats described by the amateur in 2012 (cacao and banana plantations, a dam, landslides on cleared slopes) point the same way, but the Red List itself could not be consulted.

Like all Zamia except Zamia restrepoi, which is in Appendix I, Zamia lindenii is covered by the listing of the genus in CITES Appendix II, in force since 4 February 1977. Annotation #4 (the version adopted at CoP20, in force on 5 March 2026) exempts seeds, pollen, seedlings and tissue cultures obtained in vitro and transported in sterile containers, and cut flowers of artificially propagated plants; international trade in the plants themselves requires an export permit. 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. Species+, the official CITES database, names the species and confirms this status (checked on 3 October 2026).

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

Growing Zamia lindenii

Zamia lindenii is one of the South American Zamia most often raised by amateurs. Jungle Music calls it a quick-growing species that can be grown in a glasshouse or, where it never freezes, in the garden, in filtered light and a rich, free-draining soil.

Simon Lavaud, of the French specialist nursery Cycadales.eu, places it with Zamia encephalartoides, Zamia huilensis and Zamia tolimensis among the Zamia of South American ecosystems with a marked dry season, a group of medium difficulty that tolerates temperate growing conditions fairly well. In his experience these species cause no problems in a frost-free glasshouse in southern France, because they can be kept dry in winter, which avoids root rot (Lavaud, 2023).

At the end of 2012 a member of the French Fous de palmiers forum distributed about a hundred seeds collected in Ecuador, and many participants followed their sowings on the forum until 2015. Their reports give a few pointers, all for protected cultivation (glasshouse, conservatory or indoors):

  • Slow germination: it was the slowest species of the batch to germinate, with Zamia encephalartoides; the distributor counted fewer than ten germinations out of fifty seeds after several weeks, although the embryo was well formed, and the first leaf can take a long time to follow. Several participants eventually raised two to four seedlings; some seeds rotted.
  • Method: germination on damp vermiculite at about 25 °C (77 °F), then potting into a very sandy compost with the seed half buried and the growing point kept about 1 cm below the surface; less water once temperatures fall below 20 to 22 °C (68 to 72 °F).
  • Light: light shade at first, as the species grows under forest canopy; the distributor found its growth good under glass and named it, in 2014, his most vigorous Zamia.

Outdoor and in-ground cultivation

Planting out is only advisable where frost never occurs (Jungle Music). A grower in French Guiana planted seedlings from the 2012 distribution in his garden; a photograph from 2015 shows one in the foreground, in front of a Latania palm, but no detailed report followed. In mild, frost-free gardens, filtered light is safer than full sun for plants raised in shade.

Container cultivation

In temperate climates it is grown in a pot under glass. A very sandy, free-draining compost, warmth for germination and growth, reduced watering in the cool season (Lavaud’s advice for its group) and protection from direct sun for shade-raised plants are the main points reported by growers.

In cultivation in the UK, US and Australia

In short: widely held in American gardens, present at Cairns, no British record.

  • United States: Montgomery Botanical Center (Coral Gables, Florida) lists two accession numbers under Zamia lindenii in its online catalogue, from 2000 and 2001. BGCI also records it at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (Miami), Marie Selby Botanical Gardens (Sarasota), Atlanta Botanical Garden, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens (Pittsburgh), the New York Botanical Garden, the Huntington (San Marino, California), Ganna Walska Lotusland (Santa Barbara), the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley, and in Hawaii at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, Honolulu Botanical Gardens, the National Tropical Botanical Garden and the Four Seasons Resort on Lanai (queried on 25 October 2026). The Cycad Society’s Cycad Newsletter published an article on growing it in Hawaii in 2010 (Holzman), which could not be consulted.
  • United Kingdom: no record in BGCI or in the online catalogues of British gardens.
  • Australia: the Cairns Botanic Gardens (Queensland) declare it to BGCI.

In Europe, BGCI also lists the botanic garden of Lund University (Sweden) and the Natural History Museum of Denmark, and in China Fairy Lake Botanical Garden (Shenzhen). A BGCI declaration shows that a garden held the plant at some point, not that it is alive there today; gardens in colder climates, such as Pittsburgh, New York, Lund or Copenhagen, can only hold it under glass.

Propagation

Zamia lindenii is propagated from seed, with separate male and female plants. Amateurs’ reports stress patience: even ripe seed can take several months to germinate, and then to produce its first leaf. Seeds are exempt from CITES under annotation #4; insist on a documented origin, since the species is endangered in the wild.

Pests and diseases

No pest specific to the species is documented. Growers mainly report seeds that go mouldy or rot during germination, and rot of young plants in cold, waterlogged compost. Jungle Music illustrates moderate sunburn on Zamia lindenii: brown patches on the most exposed leaves and a faded green colour overall, damage that does not recover; it notes that sunburn always affects the most exposed leaves first, whereas cold damage is more widespread. The same nursery names mealybugs as the most common pest of Zamia in cultivation, followed by scale insects.

Cold hardiness

No data exist on the cold tolerance of Zamia lindenii; the only documented failures concern sun, not cold. Jungle Music advises garden cultivation only where it does not freeze, and the British nursery Trebrown places it in USDA zone 9b, a commercial classification without any dated record.

Mediterranean and European experience

In southern France the species is grown under glass. A grower based in Belley (Ain) and Montpellier (Hérault), France, reports on the Fous de palmiers forum that in 2014, potted Zamia lindenii raised in light shade in a glasshouse and left for an hour in full sun on a terrace during repotting had all their leaves scorched. A grower in Nantes (Loire-Atlantique), in western France, brought his young plants back into the warmth on 13 October 2013, after a summer in a polytunnel, on a morning when the temperature had dropped to 6 °C (43 °F). Lavaud (2023) reports no problems in a frost-free glasshouse in southern France if the plants are kept dry in winter. No trial in the ground has been published in Europe, and no dated frost episode concerns the species. For readers in Mediterranean-type climates such as California or southern Australia, this suggests a frost-free, bright but shaded position, without any temperature threshold being documented.

United Kingdom, United States and Australia

No cold record exists. The American gardens that declare it include several in southern Florida, coastal California and Hawaii, but none says whether its plants are outdoors. In the UK it needs a heated glasshouse.

Toxicity and precautions

No toxicity study specific to Zamia lindenii has been published. The risk is, however, well documented in cycads: Zamia contain toxic glycosides (cycasin, macrozamin), from which methylazoxymethanol is derived, a compound toxic to the liver and nervous system, and the ASPCA cites cycasin and BMAA, a neurotoxic amino acid, for Zamia furfuracea, which it lists as toxic to 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

A 2007 study of plants used by the Chayahuita people of the Peruvian Amazon against skin complaints and leishmaniasis tested an extract of stems identified as Zamia lindenii: it showed only weak activity against the parasite Leishmania amazonensis (Estevez and colleagues, 2007). The identification is doubtful, since the Chayahuita live in Amazonia, far from the known range of the species, which is limited to western Ecuador and Tumbes. No other use is documented.

Frequently asked questions

Who was Linden, after whom Zamia lindenii is named?

Jean Jules Linden (1817-1898), a horticulturist who received plants of the species from the collector Benedikt Roezl and introduced them into cultivation in the nineteenth century.

Where does it grow?

In western Ecuador (nine provinces, from the coast to the Andean foothills) and in Tumbes, Peru. An amateur has seen it both on humid hills and at about 1,500 m on dry slopes.

Does it form a trunk?

Yes, it can. An amateur reports trunks of about 1.5 m in one Ecuadorian population, and a nursery describes trunks of more than 3 m; young plants keep their stem underground, pulled down by their roots.

Do its seeds germinate easily?

Slowly. Amateurs on the Fous de palmiers forum waited weeks, even months, for germination and then for the first leaf; a temperature of about 25 °C (77 °F) and a sandy compost are advised.

Can it take full sun?

Poorly, if it has been raised in shade. A grower saw all the leaves of his young plants scorched after an hour of full sun in 2014, and a nursery illustrates sunburn on the species. Light shade or filtered light is safer.

Is it hardy?

Nobody knows. No cold data exist; nurseries advise frost-free conditions, and French growers keep it under glass and bring it in early in autumn.

Is it endangered?

Yes. The IUCN rates it Endangered (2022 assessment); the forests of western Ecuador have been widely converted to farmland.

Is it poisonous?

It must be assumed so. No analysis specific to the species exists, but the cycads studied contain serious toxins, mainly in the seeds.

Further reading on Succulentes

Sources

Reference sites

Bibliography

  • André, É. (1875). Zamia lindenii. L’Illustration horticole 22: 23, pl. 195. [Original description; cited after The World List of Cycads.]
  • Stevenson, D.W. & Sabato, S. (1986). Typification of names in Zamia L. and Aulacophyllum Regel (Zamiaceae). Taxon 35(3): 134–144. [Lectotypification; cited after The World List of Cycads.]
  • Lindström, A.J. (2009). Typification of some species names in Zamia L. (Zamiaceae), with an assessment of the status of Chigua D. Stev. Taxon 58(1): 265–270. [Epitype designation; cited after The World List of Cycads.]
  • Calonje, M., Esquivel, H.E., Stevenson, D.W., Calonje, C. & Pava, D. (2011). A new arborescent species of Zamia from the Central Cordillera of Tolima, Colombia (Cycadales, Zamiaceae), with comments on the Z. poeppigiana species complex. Brittonia 63(4): 442–451. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12228-011-9190-4 [Reference checked on Crossref; not consulted.]
  • Holzman, G. (2010). Growing Zamia lindenii in Hawaii. The Cycad Newsletter 33(4): 11. [Specialist society journal; cited after The World List of Cycads.]
  • Dodson, C.H. (1998). A new species of Zamia (Zamiaceae) from Ecuador. Novon 8(1): 12–14. [Description of Zamia gentryi, with an observation on the cones of Zamia lindenii at Río Palenque; full text read.]
  • 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 [Full text read on PubMed Central.]
  • Estevez, Y., Castillo, D., Pisango, M.T., Arevalo, J., Rojas, R., Alban, J., Deharo, E., Bourdy, G. & Sauvain, M. (2007). Evaluation of the leishmanicidal activity of plants used by Peruvian Chayahuita ethnic group. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 114(2): 254–259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2007.08.007 [Peer-reviewed article; abstract read.]
  • López-Gallego, C. (2022). Zamia lindenii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T187839A1829121. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T187839A1829121.en [Red List assessment; reference given by The World List of Cycads and checked on 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.]