Living relics from the dinosaur era

I love cycads! Every day as I see them in the winter garden, they always capture my attention with their lush, prehistoric appearance. This ancient type of plant has existed from before the "Age of Dinosaurs". Their presence today offers a rare glimpse into a time when these remarkable plants were much more common, creating a truly primeval and timeless feel.

Cycads are often mistaken for palms or ferns because of their foliage, but these ancient seed plants are gymnosperms, most closely related to ginkgos and conifers. Fossil evidence shows that cycads existed during the Permian period, over 280 million years ago. Cycads were widely distributed across the supercontinents of Laurasia and Gondwana, thriving during the Mesozoic, sometimes called the "Age of Cycads". Later, as flowering plants became more dominant, the diversity of cycads decreased. Today, there are about 300 species, showing that cycads have survived and adapted through millions of years of change.

Cycads are unisexual, with separate male and female plants, both producing cones but not flowers. Male cones produce pollen, while female cones bear large ovules that develop into colourful seeds. Pollination is mostly by insects, such as beetles and weevils. Seed dispersal across their habitats is aided by animals and birds that eat the fleshy outer part of the seeds.

We have about a dozen types of cycad in the winter garden, with cones on the Cycas taiwaniana.

The Encephalartos villosus has already produced red seeds, giving visitors a chance to admire their beauty, but unfortunately as they are unfertilised, they will not grow.

Ben Xie is the winter garden collection curator at the Dunedin Botanic Garden.