Editing Cycas armstrongii

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[[File:Cycas_armstrongii.jpg|frame|Figure 1. Large branching ''C. armstrongii'', 150km south-east of Darwin.]]
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''Cycas armstrongii'' was named for a gardener from Kew
who was a keen collector and resided in the Northern
Territory. In areas of the far north of Western Australia and
indeed south-west of Darwin near the Western
Australia/Northern Territory border it is known as
''Cycas lanepoolei'' (C. Gardner). The late J.R.
Maconochie stated that this name was synonymous and that
''C. armstrongii'' had priority. The form
''C. lane-poolei'' extends into the coastal ranges of the
top end of Western Australia. Typical of all the family, the
plants are dioecious and in this species, also deciduous,
generally after April.

This cycad grows to approximately 4.0 m and if unburnt
caudices can be observed the colour is charcoal grey, very
rough and up to 15cm in diameter.
 
Most mature plants carry on average approximately 50 fronds
being a little over 1 m in length, the pinnae pea-green on
the surface and mottled with yellow on underside. Each of the
adjacent leaf pinnae having prominent midrib vein visible
above and below. The male cone emerges from the apex of the
plants and is on average 20cm in length, oval but pointed at
the apex. The colour is deep rusty hue and composed of
hundreds of scales arranged somewhat in a spiral. At first,
tightly closed, but opening later to eject dust-like spores.
The female forms a cone at the apex also. The sporophylls
enclosing many small ovoid green seed. Later this 'cone'
opens fully and the sporophylls arch outward and hang pendant
from the plant's crown. Approximately 4 ovules to each
sporophyll which is flattened, pubescent and has a triangular
spear head shape at the end of each. Thin basal stem lobes
are below the ovules The pendant fruit being 20-40cm across
and yellowish/brown when ripe. Because of certain familiar
aspects this species has earlier been confused with the east
coast ''[[Cycas media]]''. However ''Cycas armstrongii''
has a much narrower caudex, and ''Cycas media'' is seldom
deciduous naturally. This particular species along with a
sister species ''[[Cycas calcicola]]'' is much maligned in the
territory and suffers from the annual burn off which was part
of the aboriginal way of life, but is now continued by many
cattlemen across our Top End.
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Fires natural or man-produced generally blacken the caudices,
and destroy much of the ripe seed. However the resulting new
fronds carry a very powerful defence mechanism in the poison
Cycasin which affects all the cattlemen's herds. These, as
stated elsewhere are mostly scrubber, or wild station cattle.
The rejuvenating new fronds of both ''Cycas armstrongii''
and ''Cycas calcicola'' are referred to locally as
"fire-fern". ''Cycas armstrongii'' occurs in open forests
and generally in sandy loam vicinities. However, in various
localities it can be found in dense stands near granite
outcrops. Quite often the populations of
''C. armstrongii'' spill over into territories where
''C. calcicola'' grows and at least one researcher
believes he has found obvious hybrids between the two species.
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[[File:Cycas_armstrongii1.jpg|frame|Figure 2. Emerging leaves and mature seeds.]]
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[[File:Cycas_armstrongii10.jpg|frame|Figure 3. ''C. armstrongii'' in habitat.]]
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[[File:Cycas_armstrongii11.jpg|frame|Figure 4. ''C. armstrongii'' southeast of Darwin.]]
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[[File:Cycas_armstrongii12.jpg|frame|Figure 5. Male cone of ''C. armstrongii''.]]
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[[File:armstrongii2-01.jpg|frame|Figure 6. Cultivated specimen of ''C. armstrongii''.]]
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===Contributed by: ===
L. P. Butt (from '''Palms & Cycads''' No. 27, Apr-Jun 1990)


===External Links:===
[https://www.cycadlist.org/taxon.php?Taxon_ID=59 World List], 
[https://www.iucnredlist.org/details/full/41987/0 IUCN],
[https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=Cycas+armstrongii JSTOR],
[https://www.trebrown.com/plant_info.php?species=Cycas+armstrongii Trebrown]
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[https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Cycas+armstrongii%22&amp;num=10&amp;sa=Google+Search Google],
[https://images.google.com/images?q=%22Cycas+armstrongii%22&amp;hl=en&amp;btnG=Google+Search GoogleImages],
[https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Cycas+armstrongii Flickr],
<p>
[[Category:Cycas|armstrongii]]
[[Category:Cycad|Cycas_armstrongii]]