Cycas revoluta (Sotetsu [Japanese ソテツ], sago cycad, sago palm, king sago, Japanese sago palm) is a species of gymnosperm in the family Cycadaceae, native to southern Japan including the Ryukyu Islands. It is one of several species used for the production of sago, as well as an ornamental plant. The sago cycad can be distinguished by a thick coat of fibers on its trunk. The sago cycad is sometimes mistakenly thought to be a palm, although the only similarity between the two is that they look similar and both produce seeds.
Names
Cycads are not related to palms (Arecaceae), superficially similar only in leaf arrangement and that both are vascular plants and seed plants. The Latin specific epithet revoluta means "curled back", in reference to the leaves. This is also called kungi (comb) palm in Urdu speaking areas.
Description
This very symmetrical plant supports a crown of shiny, dark green leaves on a thick shaggy trunk that is typically about 20 cm (7.9 in) in diameter, sometimes wider. The trunk is very low to subterranean in young plants, but lengthens above ground with age. It can grow into very old specimens with 6–7 m (20–23 ft) of trunk; however, the plant is very slow-growing and requires about 50–100 years to achieve this height. Trunks can branch several times, thus producing multiple heads of leaves. The largest cultivated specimen, at the Ryugeji Temple, in Shimizu, Japan (136 km (85 mi) WSW of Tokyo), is 8 m (26 ft) in height and 1.6 m (5 ft 3 in) thick.
King sago palm/Sotetsu growing on a cliff in Kerama Shotō National Park.
King sago palm in Humble, Texas.
The leaves are a deep semiglossy green and about 50–150 cm (20–59 in) long when the plants are of a reproductive age. They grow out into a feather-like rosette to 1 m (3.3 ft) in diameter. The crowded, stiff, narrow leaflets are 8–18 cm (3.1–7.1 in) long and have strongly recurved or revolute...
