Ceratozamia range map (Jones 1993).

Common Names

Costilla de león, palma imperial, piña del monte (Jones 1993), Mexican horncone.

Taxonomic notes

Syn: C. mexicana var. latifolia (Miq.) Schuster 1932 (Vovides et al. 1983). Although this species was described in 1848, none of the original type material could be located, so a new type was designated in 1986 from material collected in San Luis Potosí (Jones 1993).

Description

"A small cycad which in nature develops a slender, light brown trunk to about 20 cm tall and 10 cm across. Young leaves pale green to bronze, lightly hairy. Mature leaves two to four per plant, 0.5-1 m long, dark olive green, smooth, glabrous; petiole 15-20 cm long, swollen and woolly at the base, with very sparse prickles and appearing smooth; leaflets thirty to eighty on each leaf, 15-24 cm × 2-4 cm, broadly lanceolate, falcate, sessile,.not crowded, thin textured and papery, dark olive green and shiny above, brownish beneath, the margins slightly inrolled, apex acute. Male cones 15-17 cm × 2-2.3 cm, usually solitary, cylindrical, brown; sporophylls with two small horns; peduncle about 5 cm long, woolly. Female cones 5-6 cm × 44.5 cm, usually solitary, broadly cylindrical, greenish brown, woolly; sporophylls peltate, woolly on the edges, with two small horns. Seeds 1.8-1.9 cm × 1.4 cm, ovoid, smooth."

"It is closely related to C. hildae but can be distinguished by its leaflets being evenly arranged along the fronds. ... [R]arely some plants of C. latifolia may produce an occasional leaf which has clustered leaflets. (Jones 1993).

Range

Mexico: San Luis Potosí and Hidalgo at elevations of about 850 m in cloud forests dominated by species of Quercus (Jones 1993).

Big Tree

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Used as an ornamental (Jones 1993).

Observations

Remarks

The epithet latifolia refers to the broad leaves.

Citations

This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.conifers.org/za/ce/latifolia.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
Last modified on 2005.11.27