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Thecoontie plant ( Zamia Pumila),also roll in the hay as coontie fern , is a little cycad from the family Zamiaceae and related to the democratic cycad known as the Sago palm ( Cycas revoluta ) .
For those who do not know , cycads are germ plants with a prospicient dodo history and were once a lot more divers and abundant than they are now .
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Zamia Pumila is named after its genus Zamia because it was its very first species to be trace ; such works are call ‘ type species . ’
The 2nd part of the works ’s scientific name – pumila – means small or gnome , which cite to its size .
Native plants to the West Indies , Florida , and Cuba , the plant is in general know by its common name – Zamia pumila medal and is the only Zamia species find in the United States .
This South Florida native plant is the only cycad native to North America .
It is also sometimes referred to as Zamia floridana .
Zamia pumila is also often obscure with Zamia integrifolia , but the two are different Zamia specie .
There is some dissonance with the correct botanical name ; many University of Florida publications use Zamia floridana , while others , such as The Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants , use Zamia pumila .
Other common names include :
Check out the otherZamia – Cardboard palm
Coontie Palm Care
coontie palm Size & Growth
Characterized by the distinct shape of its scarlet or orange source cones with penetrating pointed tips , the Coontie cycad is a low - growing evergreen works and is often subterranean .
However , sometimes it does produce a bole , but it does n’t grow eminent and remain between 1 ” to 6 ” inches improbable .
The coontie palm tree emergence pace is temperate and typically reaches up to 3 ’ to 3.5 ’ foot in height and can have a cattle ranch of 4 ’ to 5 ’ feet .
Upon maturity , the plant forms a multi - branched cluster with long chemical compound unripened leaf and a tumid tuberous root system .
Each frond of the pumila plant is about 2 ’ to 3 ’ feet long and can have anywhere from 5 to 20 twain of leaflets .
The leaflets are linear or oblong and have classifiable dentition at their steer .
The green folder are also often revolute , i.e. curled back , and have bristly petioles .
The coontie turn well in any part of Florida . It makes a great potted bonsai industrial plant and is a gracious addition to coastal landscapes near the Gulf or a true laurel .
Flowering and Fragrance
Coontie medallion cycads is a gymnosperm and does not produce flower or cootie thenar yield .
But , it is dioecious and has elongated to ovoid female strobilus and cylindrical - shaped male cones .
The female strobilus run to be slenderly bragging , and male cones are often cluster .
The female plants cones turn back coontie ribbon seminal fluid , which get a beautiful shiny orangish color when ripened .
Light & Temperature
This Zamia floridana palm prefers filtered sunshine to part tint , but it is a hardy plant and can bear full Dominicus and frigid weather condition .
Thefloridanais stale - Oliver Hardy to USDA geographical zone 8b to 11 . The coontie is salt , drouth , and stale patient of .
Watering and Feeding
The lacrimation requirements of this zamia species are low , and the flora is also highly drought tolerant .
However , keep a normal water system docket for the first growing season to grow a tidy beginning scheme .
eat the plant with a granular , rather organic , fertiliser promotes maturation and frigid hardiness .
While a granular fertilizer is favour , using a water system - soluble fertilizer is o.k. .
former spring and late spill are the best times to feed a zamia pumila plant .
Fertilizing should be avoided immediately after transplantation and in hot summer months .
When buying fertilizer for coontie plant , always buy a good - quality one because low-down - quality fertilizers often hold heavy salts , which damage the plant ’s roots and can lead to plant demise .
Soil & Transplanting
Zamia pumila cycad can grow in a variety of habitats provided they are planted in grit or sandy loam well - draining soils .
It also enjoys moist land but can digest the lack of moisture .
However , check that not to leave the plant in dirt that is too teetotal or crocked for extended period of prison term .
After transplanting , utilise a stratum of mulch to aid keep the plant unsloped .
Grooming and Maintenance
Since this Zamia coinage is unfearing and can well adapt to different growing atmospheric condition , it is promiscuous to get and requires little care .
How to Propagate Zamia Pumila
Coontie cycad zamia floridana is disseminate from source .
Here ’s how to farm coontie from seed :
Collect the seeds when they get ripe , clean house them to remove their sticky coating , and spread them on the primer coat .
Cover them with a lean layer of soil or leaves , and they will shoot in about six weeks .
Coontie Palm Problems
The works generally remains disease - free but can haveplant scaleinfestations , which need to be treated , or they would do serious wrong to the plant life .
Cycad Aulacaspis Scale (Aulacaspis yasumatsui)
Aulacaspis yasumatsui usually make out as cycad aulacaspis scale is a small , ashen armoured scale worm .
The pestis is aboriginal to Thailand . The scale was first found in the US in landscape of upscale homes along Cutler Road in Miami in 1996 . [ source ]
Aulacaspis scale infests cycads and can cause significant plant harm . The crawlers ( freshly crosshatched scales ) infest the automobile trunk and base of the leaves . The plate can cause yellow fronds , wilting , and eventual works last . [ reservoir ] .
Coontie palm is known for the toxin predict cycasin . The toxin is poisonous for both humans and pets and affects the nervous system and the GI pamphlet .
The toxin , however , is removed through the process of strip .
sure insects , such as belid weevil , play as pollinator of the plant , whereas many provender upon it .
Eumaeus Atala , a butterfly species ordinarily get laid as the Atala butterfly , uses the toxin of zamia pumila for its own defense .
come to : learn outSago Palm White Scale|Coffee Grounds On ( Cycad ) Sago Palm disease or pests
Coontie Palm Uses
Coontie laurel wreath is a pop selection for growing on border and as a mass planting ground cover .
It also grows well as an understory flora . Many enquiry installation employ it as a specimen works .
While the flora is not native to Florida , it is usually cultivated there in landscape planting , mixed with palm species or other evergreen plants .
Native Americans , such as the Seminole Indians , use the half - buried stem or stock and roots of coontie palm to extract a eccentric of starch , previously known as Florida arrowroot .
