Zamia tolimensis

Zamia tolimensis is a large, trunk-forming cycad of Colombia, endemic to the eastern slope of the Central Cordillera in the department of Tolima, where it grows at 1,400 to 2,000 m in humid montane forest. Described in 2011, this species of the genus Zamia is one of the largest in the genus: its trunk reaches 4 m, its sickle-shaped leaflets up to 45 cm and its male cones more than 30 cm. The Tolima collections had first been referred to Zamia poeppigiana, an Amazonian species. The IUCN rates it Endangered.

Key facts about Zamia tolimensis

  • Accepted name: Zamia tolimensis Calonje, H.E.Esquivel & D.W.Stev. (2011), accepted by The World List of Cycads (version 2026.08.15) and by GBIF; POWO could not be consulted directly
  • Former names and synonyms: no synonyms; the Tolima plants were formerly identified as Zamia poeppigiana
  • Family: Zamiaceae, order Cycadales
  • Common names: no English name; “palma de yuca” (Spanish, local usage in Tolima)
  • Natural range: Colombia, department of Tolima (municipality of Rioblanco and, for the early collections, Planadas), eastern slope of the Central Cordillera, 1,400 to 2,000 m; possibly also in neighbouring Huila
  • IUCN status: Endangered (EN), criteria B1ab(iii,v)+2ab(iii,v), assessment published in 2022; Critically Endangered on the 2015 Colombian national red list
  • 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 figures (see Cold hardiness)
  • Light and soil: in the wild, the understorey of montane rain and wet forest, on steep slopes, in clay soil covered with humus, under a cool, wet climate (13 to 21 °C, 55 to 70 °F); in cultivation, a frost-free glasshouse, kept on the dry side in winter (group advice from Cycadales.eu)
  • Habit and adult size: above-ground trunk up to 4 m tall and 30 cm across; up to 34 leaves, each up to 3.25 m long
  • In the UK, US and Australia: Longwood Gardens (Pennsylvania) and the botanical garden of the University of Hawaii at Hilo, according to BGCI; no British or Australian record
  • Toxicity: no data specific to the species; treat it as poisonous, like all cycads (see Toxicity and precautions)

How to recognise Zamia tolimensis

Look for a tall trunk, a crown of many leaves and long, narrow leaflets that are distinctly sickle-shaped, with an entire margin or a few teeth towards the tip only; the petiole carries few prickles. The details below come from the original description (Calonje and colleagues, 2011), supplemented by the Colombian action plan for the conservation of zamias (López-Gallego, 2015) and by the comparison with Zamia huilensis published in 2012 (Calonje and colleagues, 2012):

  • Trunk: above ground, globose to cylindrical, up to 4 m tall and 10 to 30 cm across, upright or sometimes lying down, usually solitary but sometimes branched; cataphylls up to 15 cm by 4 cm.
  • Leaves: in a rosette at the top of the trunk, up to 34, upright or arching, up to 3.25 m long; petiole up to 80 cm, with a swollen, hairless base and 0 to 15 prickles (rarely up to 30) no more than 3.4 mm long; rachis up to 2.45 m, without prickles or with a few in its lower third. New leaves are light green and hairless, then glossy bright green.
  • Leaflets: up to 46 pairs per leaf, linear-lanceolate with a long acuminate tip and a clear lengthwise groove, straight to strongly sickle-shaped, papery, without a stalk or midrib; basal leaflets 39 to 45 cm by 3 to 3.4 cm, median leaflets 30 to 45 cm by 2.2 to 4 cm and 3 to 5.2 cm apart, apical leaflets 13 to 40 cm by 2 to 4 cm. The margin is entire or carries at most 16 teeth, confined to the outer half.
  • Male cones: four to nine per stem, up to 31 cm long and 4.5 cm across, beige-yellow when emerging and then covered in fine beige down when mature according to the original description (brown and downy according to the Colombian action plan), on a peduncle up to 28.5 cm long; each scale carries 41 to 63 pollen sacs grouped in a single cluster on its lower face.
  • Female cones: solitary, upright, cylindrical, 35 to 37 cm long and 11 to 13 cm across when mature, with a blunt tip, covered in fine beige-yellow to beige down according to the original description (brown according to the action plan), on a short peduncle 7 to 9 cm long hidden by the cataphylls; the white ovules are attached to flattened, hairy appendages that project beyond the scales.
  • Seeds: ovoid-pyramidal, with a red fleshy coat, 3 to 3.8 cm long and 2.2 to 2.6 cm wide; the hard shell measures 2.8 to 3.6 cm by 2.1 to 2.4 cm.

Hybrids

No hybrid involving Zamia tolimensis, natural or artificial, has been published.

Possible confusion

Outside Colombia, its closest look-alikes are Zamia lindenii (western Ecuador and north-western Peru) and Zamia poeppigiana (Peruvian Amazonia), neither of which grows in Colombia. The original description separates it by its less toothed leaflets, few petiole prickles, beige-yellow female cones on shorter peduncles and more numerous pollen sacs grouped in a single cluster on each male scale (Calonje and colleagues, 2011). Its key gives the details:

  • Zamia tolimensis: median leaflets entire or usually with fewer than 16 teeth in the outer half; petiole with no more than 30 prickles (usually fewer than 15), not extending beyond the lower third of the rachis; 40 or more pollen sacs per scale, in a single group; female cones beige to beige-yellow, with a hairless axis and a short peduncle (7 to 9 cm); seed shell more than 2.1 cm wide; female cones staying upright when mature;
  • Zamia lindenii and Zamia poeppigiana: leaflets usually with 18 or more teeth, starting in the lower half; petiole with 35 or more prickles; fewer than 38 pollen sacs per scale, in two groups; female cones dark brown to grey, with a hairy axis and a long peduncle (over 12 cm); seed shell no more than 1.8 cm wide; female cones leaning over (Zamia poeppigiana) or hanging (Zamia lindenii) when mature.

In Colombia the closest species is Zamia huilensis, from the Eastern Cordillera (department of Huila), which shares the trunk, the short-stalked female cones and the grouped pollen sacs. The differences are clear (Calonje and colleagues, 2012):

  • Zamia tolimensis: trunk up to 4 m; sickle-shaped leaflets 30 to 45 cm long, entire or with fewer than 16 teeth in the outer half; male cones up to 31 cm; 41 to 63 pollen sacs per scale; forests of the Central Cordillera, 1,400 to 2,000 m;
  • Zamia huilensis: trunk up to 1.1 m; straight leaflets 16 to 29 cm long, with 20 or more teeth starting in the lower half; male cones up to 14 cm; 37 to 43 pollen sacs; forests of the Eastern Cordillera, 1,000 to 1,750 m.

Taxonomy

Zamia tolimensis is an accepted name with no synonyms, according to The World List of Cycads and GBIF; POWO could not be consulted directly. It was described in 2011 by Michael Calonje, Héctor Eduardo Esquivel and Dennis W. Stevenson, with C. Calonje and D. Pava, in the journal Brittonia (volume 63, pages 442 to 451), in a paper that also reviews the Zamia poeppigiana species complex and gives a key to its three species.

In Stevenson’s treatments of the cycads of Colombia, published in 2001 and 2004, the Tolima collections were filed under Zamia poeppigiana. Fieldwork showed that they belonged to a distinct, large trunk-forming species. The same work established that Zamia poeppigiana is a species of the Amazonian forests of Peru and that Zamia lindenii lives in the coastal forests of Ecuador and north-western Peru: neither grows in Colombia (Calonje and colleagues, 2012). The 2015 Colombian action plan likewise no longer counts Zamia poeppigiana among the country’s species. For readers, this means that older Colombian records of Zamia poeppigiana refer to Zamia tolimensis or to Zamia huilensis.

According to the 2011 paper, only two collections then came from Tolima: one by the Russian botanist Georg Woronow in 1923 and one by the American Elbert Little in 1944, both probably in the present-day municipality of Planadas. A third, attributed to Tolima or the upper Magdalena valley and cited as a paratype of Zamia incognita, actually came from near Balao, in Ecuador, and belongs to Zamia lindenii. The authors place Zamia tolimensis in a “Zamia poeppigiana complex” with Zamia lindenii and Zamia poeppigiana, for which they give revised descriptions (Calonje and colleagues, 2011). The transcriptome-based phylogeny of Lindstrom and colleagues (2024) included a plant from Tolima, without discussing its position in the text.

Etymology and history

The epithet tolimensis refers to Tolima, the Colombian department where the species was collected (Calonje and colleagues, 2011; Haynes, 2022).

The holotype was collected on 23 June 2010 in the municipality of Rioblanco, at 1,500 to 1,650 m, by H. E. Esquivel, M. Calonje, D. Pava and C. Calonje (number 3601). It is kept at the herbarium of the University of Tolima (TOLI), with isotypes in thirteen other Colombian herbaria (Calonje and colleagues, 2011). The two Rioblanco populations had been spotted during a floristic survey by the University of Tolima, where H. E. Esquivel recognised a possibly new species; they were studied from 22 to 24 June 2010 by the University of Tolima and its herbarium, with Montgomery Botanical Center and the Dolmetsch arboretum in Cali. Distribution and abundance studies followed in 2011 and 2012, by the University of Tolima and Montgomery Botanical Center (López-Gallego, 2015). On the French forum Fous de palmiers, an enthusiast welcomed at the end of 2012 “the recent description of Zamia tolimensis, a giant Zamia from Colombia”.

Common names

There is no English name. The Colombian action plan reports the name “palma de yuca”, used by people living where the species grows (López-Gallego, 2015). The original description explains it by the palm-like look of the plant and by the resemblance of the young stem to a cassava tuber, yuca (Calonje and colleagues, 2011).

In the wild

Zamia tolimensis is endemic to Colombia. It grows on the eastern slope of the Central Cordillera, in the department of Tolima only, between 1,400 and 2,000 m (López-Gallego, 2015), in humid montane forest, described as lower montane wet forest and montane rain forest (Calonje and colleagues, 2012). The plants grow in the understorey, on well-drained soils under good forest cover. The original description specifies steep slopes and clay soils covered with a layer of humus, and notes that in the two populations studied (1,400 to 1,650 m) the vegetable-ivory palm Phytelephas schottii dominated the vegetation; Elbert Little, who collected it in 1944 at about 2,000 m, recorded it alongside Clusia, melastomes and tree ferns. The species might also occur in neighbouring Huila. It is the only Zamia described from the Central Cordillera of Colombia, and one of the few in the country growing above 1,000 m, with Zamia montana and Zamia wallisii (Calonje and colleagues, 2011).

The climate is cool and wet: 2,400 to 2,600 mm of rain a year, falling in two rainy seasons (March to May, then November), with July the driest month, and temperatures of 13 to 21 °C (55 to 70 °F), according to modelled climate data (WorldClim) cited in the original description.

Cones seem to be produced fairly rarely. The specialist pollinating beetles of the Colombian zamias, of the genus Pharaxonotha, have been observed on the plants, as have caterpillars of Eumaeus butterflies, which eat young and old leaves. Seeds seem mostly to fall at the foot of the parent plant. Unlike some other Colombian zamias, the populations show moderate production of seeds, seedlings and young plants, a sign of some renewal (López-Gallego, 2015). In June 2010 the authors saw emerging, shedding and old male cones, and female cones at various stages, up to full-sized cones carrying pink seeds two or three months from ripeness; a male cone about to shed pollen sheltered hundreds of Pharaxonotha beetles, and Eumaeus caterpillars were eating the young leaves in both populations (Calonje and colleagues, 2011).

Conservation status and regulation

Zamia tolimensis is rated Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List under criteria B1ab(iii,v)+2ab(iii,v), which reflect a very small range with a decline in habitat and in the number of sites (assessment by M. Calonje and C. López-Gallego published in 2022, according to The World List of Cycads; category confirmed by GBIF; the Red List page could not be consulted). The 2015 Colombian national red list rates it Critically Endangered (CR). Its authors had recommended that category as early as 2011 (CR B1ab(i-v)+2ab(i-v)+D): as a precaution they counted only the two known populations, giving an extent of occurrence of about 25 km² and an area of occupancy of 0.2 km², all collections including the early ones covering about 1,000 km² (Calonje and colleagues, 2011).

According to the Colombian action plan (López-Gallego, 2015), the study that preceded the description recorded two small populations of fewer than 50 adults each; the species sheet elsewhere estimates fewer than 250 individuals per population, in the Rioblanco area. These populations live in small, degraded forest fragments (under 100 ha) surrounded by pasture and crops: most of the habitat has been destroyed by farming and cattle ranching, and the remaining fragments suffer from selective logging and hunting. No collecting for trade has been reported. The species occurs in no protected area; plants are kept at the Medellín Botanical Garden and in the collection of the University of Tolima.

The original description gives precise figures: in June 2010 the two populations visited occupied forest fragments of less than one hectare; the first had 11 adult plants, with few cones and seedlings, and the type population 53 adults, with many cones and seedlings. According to local people, the species was common in other nearby fragments that the armed conflict then made impossible to visit, such as the Planadas sites where it was collected in 1923 and 1944, some twenty kilometres to the south. The main threat was habitat destruction for coffee growing and cattle (Calonje and colleagues, 2011).

Like all Zamia except Zamia restrepoi, which is in Appendix I, Zamia tolimensis falls under CITES Appendix II, where the genus has been listed since 4 February 1977. The listing carries annotation #4 (version adopted at CoP20, in force on 5 March 2026): seeds, pollen, seedlings and tissue cultures obtained in vitro and transported in sterile containers, and cut flowers of artificially propagated plants, are not covered by CITES. International trade in the plants themselves, on the other hand, requires an export permit. In the European Union the species is listed in Annex B of Regulation (EC) No 338/97, whose annexes are now set by Regulation (EU) 2026/1383, applicable since 29 June 2026. Species+ lists the species by name under the genus listing (checked on 3 October 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 cultivated seed.

Growing Zamia tolimensis

No growing advice specific to Zamia tolimensis has been published, and the Colombian action plan does not recommend the species for commercial propagation programmes (López-Gallego, 2015). Simon Lavaud, of the French specialist nursery Cycadales.eu, places it in his group of South American zamias from ecosystems with a dry season (with Zamia huilensis, Zamia lindenii and Zamia encephalartoides), rated of “medium” difficulty: according to him, these species tolerate temperate-climate growing conditions fairly well, can be grown like the Mexican zamias, and pose no problem in a frost-free glasshouse in southern France, because they can be kept dry in winter, which avoids root rot (Lavaud, 2023). The original description, for its part, depicts cool, wet montane forest with only a short drier spell in July; Lavaud’s grouping is a growing category, not a description of the habitat.

Its habitat gives further pointers. Unlike most zamias, it is a mountain plant, growing at 1,400 to 2,000 m in cool, humid forest, under cover, where temperatures range from 13 to 21 °C (55 to 70 °F) and 2,400 to 2,600 mm of rain falls a year (modelled data cited by Calonje and colleagues, 2011). Its large adult size (a 4 m trunk and leaves of 3.25 m) makes it, in any case, a plant for a large glasshouse or a botanic garden.

Outdoor and in-ground cultivation

No outdoor planting has been documented outside Colombia, where plants are kept at the Medellín Botanical Garden and by the University of Tolima. In mild, frost-free climates with cool summers and regular rainfall, a sheltered, lightly shaded spot in well-drained, humus-rich soil would be the most consistent approach; it has not been validated by published trials.

Container cultivation

No container-growing report has been published. Young plants can be grown in pots in a frost-free glasshouse, following the group advice above, but the species will eventually outgrow all but the largest containers. This is a deduction, not a tested result.

In cultivation in the UK, US and Australia

In short: two American declarations, nothing in Britain or Australia.

  • United States: Longwood Gardens (Kennett Square, Pennsylvania) and the botanical garden of the University of Hawaii at Hilo declare it to BGCI. The online catalogue of Montgomery Botanical Center (Coral Gables, Florida), which took part in the fieldwork, has no entry for it (catalogue and BGCI queried on 25 October 2026).
  • Australia: no record in BGCI or in the online catalogues of Australian gardens.
  • United Kingdom: no record in BGCI or in the online catalogues of British gardens.

A BGCI declaration shows that a garden held the plant at some point, not that it is alive there today. In Colombia, BGCI records it at the José Celestino Mutis Botanical Garden in Bogotá and at the Medellín Botanical Garden.

Propagation

No data have been published on germination or seedling care. Like all Zamia, the species has separate male and female plants and is propagated from seed; in the wild, seedlings are observed (López-Gallego, 2015). The action plan recommends a propagation programme to reinforce the wild populations.

Pests and diseases

In the wild, caterpillars of Eumaeus butterflies eat young and old leaves (López-Gallego, 2015). No disease has been documented. In cultivation, Zamia are mainly at risk from rot in cold, sodden compost, and from scale insects.

Cold hardiness

There are no figures for the cold tolerance of Zamia tolimensis. It lives in the Andes at 1,400 to 2,000 m, under a tropical montane climate cooler than that of the lowlands (13 to 21 °C, or 55 to 70 °F, according to modelled climate data), but no measured minimum temperature and no outdoor trial have been published: its response to frost is unknown.

Mediterranean and European experience

No cultivation result has been published in France or Italy, in the ground or in pots, and no dated frost episode concerns this species. The only European pointer is Cycadales.eu’s statement that its group poses no problem in a frost-free glasshouse in southern France (Lavaud, 2023). At the Jardin zoologique tropical in La Londe-les-Maures (Var, on the French Riviera), no observation of it has been published. For readers in Mediterranean-type climates such as California or southern Australia, it should be kept frost-free until data exist.

United Kingdom, United States and Australia

No cold record and no commercial hardiness rating have been published. In the UK it needs a frost-free glasshouse in winter.

Toxicity and precautions

No toxicity study specific to Zamia tolimensis has been published. The risk is, however, well documented in cycads: Zamia contain toxic glycosides (cycasin, macrozamin), from which methylazoxymethanol is derived, harmful to the liver and nervous system, and cycads also contain a neurotoxic amino acid, BMAA; the seeds are the most dangerous part. Within the genus, the ASPCA lists Zamia furfuracea as toxic to dogs, cats and horses. 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 use was reported by the people living where the species grows (López-Gallego, 2015).

Frequently asked questions

What does the name Zamia tolimensis mean?

“Of Tolima”. The epithet refers to the Colombian department of Tolima, the only place where the species is known.

How big does it get?

Very big for a Zamia. Its trunk reaches 4 m tall and 30 cm across, its leaves 3.25 m, its leaflets 45 cm and its male cones 31 cm.

Is it a Zamia poeppigiana?

No. The Tolima plants were long filed under that name, but they have formed a distinct species since 2011. Zamia poeppigiana lives in Peruvian Amazonia and does not grow in Colombia.

How can I tell it from Zamia huilensis?

By size and leaflets. Zamia tolimensis is much larger, with sickle-shaped leaflets 30 to 45 cm long, with few or no teeth; Zamia huilensis has straight leaflets 16 to 29 cm long, toothed from the lower half.

Is it endangered?

Yes. The IUCN rates it Endangered, and the 2015 Colombian red list Critically Endangered. Its populations survive in small forest fragments surrounded by pasture, outside any protected area.

Is it hardy?

Unknown. It is a mountain plant, but no cold data exist; to be safe, keep it frost-free.

Is it poisonous?

It must be assumed so. No analysis concerns the species, but the cycads studied contain serious toxins, especially in the seeds.

Further reading on Succulentes

Sources

Reference sites

Bibliography

  • 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[amia] poeppigiana species complex. Brittonia 63(4): 442–451. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12228-011-9190-4 [Original description; full text read in the copy published by The Cycad Society.]
  • Calonje, M., Esquivel, H.E., Morales, G., Mora-Lizcano, Y.A. & Stevenson, D.W. (2012). A new arborescent species of Zamia (Cycadales, Zamiaceae) from the department of Huila, eastern cordillera of Colombia. Caldasia 34(2): 283–290. [Comparison with Zamia tolimensis; full text read.]
  • López-Gallego, C. (2015). Plan de acción para la conservación de las zamias de Colombia. Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible and Universidad de Antioquia, Bogotá. [Official document; 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.]
  • Calonje, M. & López-Gallego, C. (2022). Zamia tolimensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T66912030A66912052. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T66912030A66912052.en [IUCN assessment; reference checked on Crossref, category confirmed by GBIF; the Red List page could not be consulted.]
  • Lavaud, S. (2023). Comment cultiver les Zamia en climat tempéré. Cycadales.eu. [Growing advice for groups of species; read directly.]
  • 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.]