Zamia Explained

Zamia is a genus of cycad of the family Zamiaceae, native to North America from the United States (in Georgia and Florida) throughout the West Indies, Central America, and South America as far south as Bolivia.^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} The genus is considered to be the most ecologically and morphologically diverse of the cycads, and is estimated to have originated about 68.3 million years ago.^[5]

Description

The genus comprises deciduous shrubs with aerial or subterranean circular stems, often superficially resembling palms. They produce spirally arranged, pinnate leaves which are pubescent, at least when young, having branched and simple, transparent and coloured hairs. The articulated leaflets lack a midrib, and are broad with subparallel dichotomous venation. Lower leaflets are not reduced to spines, though the petioles often have prickles. The emerging leaves of many Zamia species are striking, some emerging with a reddish or bronze cast (Z. roeslii being an example). Zamia picta is even more distinctive, being the only truly variegated cycad (having whitish/yellow speckles on the leaves).^[6]

Reproduction

Zamia sporophylls are born in vertical rows in cones, and the megasporophyll apices are faceted or flattened, not spinose. The fleshy seeds are subglobular to oblong or ellipsoidal, and are red, orange, yellow or rarely white. The endosperm is haploid, derived from the female gametophyte. The embryo is straight, with two cotyledons that are usually united at the tips and a very long, spirally twisted suspensor. The sperm of members from the genus are large, as is typical of cycads, and Z. roezlii is an example; its sperm are approximately 0.4 mm long and can be seen by the unaided eye.^[7]

Preferred habitat

All the species of Zamia produce leafy crowns of foliage that make them choice garden specimens and most varieties branch heavily in age to produce handsome clumps. With a few exceptions, most Zamia species are found in warm, humid, tropical rainforest habitats, growing in the forest understory. However, many species are still fairly adaptable, performing quite well in cultivation, especially in subtropical areas. All species need good drainage and protection from the cold.

Ecology

At least one species, Z. pseudoparasitica, grows as an epiphyte in the branches of trees.

Species

Accepted species:^[8]

1. Zamia acuminata Oerst.ex Dyer - Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama
   1. Zamia amazonum D.W.Stev. - Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil Zamia amplifolia Hort.Bull ex Mast. - Colombia
2. Zamia angustifolia Jacq. - The Bahamas, Cuba
3. Zamia boliviana (Brongn.) A.DC. - Bolivia, Brazil (Mato Grosso)
4. Zamia bussellii Schutzman et al.
5. Zamia chigua Seem. - Colombia
6. Zamia cremnophila Vovides, Schutzman & Dehgan - Tabasco, Mexico
7. Zamia cunaria Dressler & D.W.Stev. - Panama
8. Zamia decumbens Calonje, Meerman, M.P. Griff. & Hoese - Belize
9. Zamia disodon D.W.Stev. & Sabato - Colombia
10. Zamia dressleri D.W.Stev. - Panama
11. Zamia elegantissima Schutzman, Vovides & R.S.Adams - Panama
12. Zamia encephalartoides D.W. Stev. - Colombia
13. Zamia erosa O.F.Cook & G.N.Collins - Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico
14. Zamia fairchildiana L.D.Gómez - Panama, Costa Rica
15. Zamia fischeri Miq. ex Lem. - Mexico (San Luis Potosí, Veracruz, Hidalgo, Querétaro, Tamaulipas)
16. Zamia furfuracea L.f. - cardboard palm - Mexico (Veracruz)
17. Zamia gentryi Dodson Ecuador
18. Zamia gomeziana R.H.Acuña - Costa Rica
19. Zamia grijalvensis Pérez-Farr., Vovides & Mart.-Camilo - Mexico (Chiapas)
20. Zamia hamannii A.S.Taylor, J.L.Haynes & Holzman - Panama
21. Zamia herrerae Calderón & Standl. - Mexico (Chiapas), El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras
22. Zamia huilensis Calonje, H.E.Esquivel & D.W.Stev. Colombia
23. Zamia hymenophyllidia D.W.Stev. - Colombia, Peru
24. Zamia imbricata Calonje & Castro
25. Zamia imperialis A.S.Taylor, J.L.Haynes & Holzman - Panama
26. Zamia incognita A.Lindstr. & Idárraga - Colombia
27. Zamia inermis Vovides, J.D.Rees & Vázq.Torres - Mexico (Veracruz)
28. Zamia integrifolia L.f. - coontie palm/Florida arrowroot - United States (Florida, Georgia), Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Puerto Rico
29. Zamia ipetiensis D.W.Stev. - Panama
30. Zamia katzeriana (Regel) E.Rettig - Mexico
31. Zamia lacandona Schutzman & Vovides - Mexico (Chiapas)
32. Zamia lecointei Ducke - Brazil (Pará), Venezuela, Colombia, Peru
33. Zamia lindenii Regel ex André - Peru, Ecuador
34. Zamia lindleyi Warsz. ex A.Dietr. - Panama
35. Zamia lindosensis Stevenson, Cárdenas & Castaño
36. Zamia loddigesii Miq. Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico (Campeche, Chiapas, Veracruz, Puebla, Oaxaca, Hidalgo, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Quintana Roo, Yucatán
37. Zamia lucayana Britton - Bahamas
38. Zamia macrochiera D.W.Stev. - Peru
39. Zamia manicata Linden ex Regel - Panama, Colombia
40. Zamia meermanii Calonje - Belize
41. Zamia melanorrhachis D.W.Stev. - Colombia
42. Zamia montana A.Braun - Colombia
43. Zamia monticola Chamb. - Guatemala
44. Zamia muricata Willd. - Colombia, Venezuela
45. Zamia nana A.Lindstr., Calonje, D.W.Stev. & A.S.Taylor Panama^[9]
46. Zamia nesophila A.S.Taylor, J.L.Haynes & Holzman - Panama
47. Zamia neurophyllidia D.W.Stev. - Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica
48. Zamia obliqua A.Braun - Colombia
49. Zamia onan-reyesii C.Nelson & Sandoval - Honduras
50. Zamia oreillyi C.Nelson - Honduras
51. Zamia paucifoliolata Calonje
52. Zamia paucijuga Wieland - Mexico (Guerrero, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, Nayarit, Oaxaca)
53. Zamia poeppigiana Mart. & Eichler - Bolivia, Brazil (Acre)
54. Zamia portoricensis Urb. - Puerto Rico
55. Zamia prasina W.Bull - Belize, Mexico (Tabasco, Yucatán)
56. Zamia pseudomonticola L.D.Gómez - Panama, Costa Rica
57. Zamia pseudoparasitica Yates - Panama
58. Zamia pumila L. - guáyara / Dominican zamia - Hispaniola (Dominican Republic), possibly Cuba; possibly extirpated in Puerto Rico and Haiti
59. Zamia purpurea Vovides, J.D.Rees & Vázq.Torres - Mexico (Veracruz, Oaxaca)
60. Zamia pygmaea Sims - Cuba
61. Zamia pyrophylla Calonje, D.W.Stev. & A.Lindstr. - Colombia
62. Zamia restrepoi (D.W.Stev.) A.Lindstr. - Colombia
63. Zamia roezlii Regel ex Linden - Colombia, Ecuador
64. Zamia sandovalii C.Nelson - Honduras
65. Zamia sinuensis Calonje & Castro
66. Zamia skinneri Warsz. ex A.Dietr. - Panama
67. Zamia soconuscensis Schutzman, Vovides & Dehgan - Mexico (Chiapas)
68. Zamia spartea A.DC. in A.P.de Candolle - Mexico (Oaxaca)
69. Zamia standleyi Schutzman - Guatemala, Honduras
70. Zamia stenophyllidia Nicolalde-Morejón, Martínez-Domínguez & Stevenson
71. Zamia stevensonii A.S.Taylor & Holzman Panama
72. Zamia stricta Miq. - Cuba
73. Zamia tolimensis Calonje, H.E.Esquivel & D.W.Stev - Colombia
74. Zamia tuerckheimii Donn.Sm. - Guatemala
75. Zamia ulei Dammer - Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil
76. Zamia urep B.Walln. - Peru
77. Zamia variegata Warsz. - Mexico (Chiapas), Belize, Guatemala
78. Zamia vazquezii D.W.Stev., Sabato & De Luca - Mexico (Veracruz)
79. Zamia verschaffeltii Miq. - Mexico (Veracruz, Tabasco, Chiapas)
80. Zamia wallisii H.J.Veitch - Colombia

External links

• http://www.cycad.org/documents/descriptions/Zamia/Zamia-tolimensis.pdf
• http://www.ciencias.unal.edu.co/unciencias/data-file/user_16/file/caldasia/3402/cld340203.pdf
• The Cycad Pages: Genus Zamia
• Zamia, by Ada Welsch

Further reading

• Lindström, A.J. and Idárraga, Á. (2009). Zamia incognita (Zamiaceae): the exciting discovery of a new gymnosperm from Colombia. Phytotaxa 2: 29-34.

Notes and References

1. http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=378801 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
2. Hill, K.D. & Stevenson, D.W. (1999). A world list of Cycads, 1999. Excelsa 19: 67-72.
3. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233501359 Flora of North America, vol 2, Zamia integrifolia Linnaeus f. in Aiton, Hort. Kew. 3: 478. 1789.
4. Standley, P. C. & J. A. Steyermark. 1958. Cycadaceae. In Standley, P.C. & Steyermark, J.A. (Eds), Flora of Guatemala - Part I. Fieldiana, Bot. 24(1): 11–20.
5. 10.1002/ece3.8769 . Arboreal camera trapping sheds light on seed dispersal of the world's only epiphytic gymnosperm: Zamia pseudoparasitica . 2022 . Monteza-Moreno . Claudio M. . Rodriguez-Castro . Lilisbeth . Castillo-Caballero . Pedro L. . Toribio . Edgar . Saltonstall . Kristin . Ecology and Evolution . 12 . 3 . e8769 . 35356569 . 8948316 . 2022EcoEv..12E8769M .
6. Nicolalde-Morejón, F., A. P. Vovides & D. W. Stevenson. 2009. Taxonomic revision of Zamia in Mega-Mexico. Brittonia 61(4): 301–335.
7. Web site: Botanical Record-Breakers (Part 1 of 2) . W.P. . Armstrong . Wayne's Word . 2008-04-03 . 2011-01-12 . 2010-12-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101219095825/http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0601.htm . dead .
8. Web site: Zamia — The Plant List. www.theplantlist.org. 2019-06-04.
9. Web site: Zamia nana at The World List of Cycads.