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Cycads Cycas

Cycads Cycas. Maria Garcia Sasha Espinola. Origins. Appeared in fossil record during the Triassic period, 225 million years ago. Because cycads continue to survive they are called living fossils Cycads are not related to ferns or palms Seed bearing plants, classified as gymnosperms

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Cycads Cycas

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  1. CycadsCycas Maria Garcia Sasha Espinola

  2. Origins Appeared in fossil record during the Triassic period, 225 million years ago. Because cycads continue to survive they are called living fossils Cycads are not related to ferns or palms Seed bearing plants, classified as gymnosperms The regions to which cycads are spread indicate their former distribution in Pangaea beforeit separated. Belongs to the phylum Cycadophyta, native to warm regions.

  3. Phylum Cycadophyta Derived from two Greek words: kykas (palm) and phyto (plant) Cycads are dioecious, as opposed to monoecious, and produce seeds on special leaves. Dioecious: Have male and female cones on separate plants in the same species

  4. History One of the earliest seed plants Were important food resource for dinosaurs People became aware of cycads through two Arab naturalist who recorded that cycas was used for flour. Geovanni Lerio on a trip to Brazil observed a species now classified as Zamia. American Botanist C.J. Chamberlain studied cycads for about 15 years

  5. Location Parts of: Mexico Florida Central America Southeast Africa Australia

  6. Structure

  7. Types • There are nine different genera of cycads: • Cycas revoluta, sago palm - dwarf palm like cycad of Japan that yields years ago • Zamia - any of various cycads of the genus Zamia; among the smallest and most verdant cycads • Ceratozamia - a small cycad of the genus Ceratozamia having a short scaly woody trunk and fernlike foliage and woody cones; Mexico

  8. Types dioon - the genus Dioon; handsome palm like cycads with robust crowns of leaves and rugged trunks Encephalartos caffer, kaffir bread - South African cycad; the fruit is sometimes used as food macrozamia - treelike cycad of the genus Macrozamia: erect trunks and pinnate leaves and large cones with sometimes edible nuts; found in Australia

  9. Reproduction Gymnosperm: “naked seed” seeds that are exposed Not flowering plants Cones are the form of reproduction Male and female are distinguished in appearance Female: larger in diameter Male: elongated and narrow Male cones develop pollen. Carried by insects or sometimes wind to the female cone. Seeds then develop inside female cones. If matured, the seeds will germinate and produce small seedling There are more male cones rather than female cones

  10. Uses Can be grown in your garden food in some indigenous tribes (toxins in the seeds must be removed so it can be safe to eat) In Okinawa was considered a famine food, last resort during difficult times  Regular consumption of starch derived from cycads are said to develop Lytico-Bodig disease (a neurological disease with symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease.)

  11. Extinction and Conservation! Most threatened group of organisms Cycads are the oldest living seed plants and have survived three mass extinction events!! They are facing a growing threat of extinction so it would be ideal to plant and take care of cycads in gardens to help out the ecosystem.

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