Editing Cycas OzIntro (section)

===Present Status: ===
Botanical study of Cycadaceae is still in
progress here in Australia and although incomplete, the
amount of progress so far is remarkable when one considers
that very few botanists are studying the entire Cycadale
group with any thought in mind of merit to the plants.
Rather, study is being carried out to determine the
peculiarities of the toxins the cycads contain, and their
effects on primary livestock.

After
discussion with farmers, in particular the man who grazes
cattle, it emerges that most of the Zamiaceae are
inaccessible to stock at normal times. Most zamiads are
either too formidable in leaf structure, or their seed is
enclosed in heavy cones. Also many of them have protective
spines while in cone formation.

However the Cycadaceae present a different picture because
of the peculiar manner of their seed hanging exposed from
between the leaf fronds at the apex of the plant's trunk.
Also in the case of ''Cycas'' the group of tender young new
fronds emerge from time to time in their circinate fashion.
This presents an attractive soft repast to wandering
'scrubbers' or straying cattle who immediately eat this and
develop a ricketts type of complaint or partial paralysis of
the hind legs. Because they are straying stock they die of
starvation rather than from the plant's toxic properties.
I have discussed the situation regarding stock with many
farmers and even those that totally disregard the plants as
having any use will admit that most stock fatalities occur
when drought conditions prevail and fires have burnt off an
area leaving only blackened caudices, which triggers new
growth.

However because of such stock losses reports to primary
industry authorities are made, which result in certain
Australian authorities declaring the indigenous family as
noxious.

Most other countries throughout the world realize their real
value as marvellous botanical specimens with good commercial
possibilities. South Africa and America have raised
protective laws by declaring their cycads as plants in danger
of extinction. Further, could I pose the question, "just how
many indigenous plants have been declared noxious weeds in
their own country?." Professor Chamberlain stated in 1919,
with reference to Cycads, "it is nothing short of vandalism
to destroy by arsenic poisoning, plants of scientific importance."
On the home garden and landscaping front, the extreme
hardiness and palmlike beauty of the cycad family makes them
ideal subjects for tub culture or for planned garden
landscaping. As greater knowledge of the family is gained the
existing law may change to the benefit of all concerned. To
illustrate the degree of lack of knowledge of these plants at
authoritarian level, the reference to the noxious plant by
authorities is as "Zamia", a genus which is not even
indigenous to Australia. It is found much farther afield in
Florida, Central and South America.