COONTIE, OR ZAMIA INTEGRIFOLIA. Each 20 to 59 inch leaf holds 6 to 12 stiff blue-green fuzzy leaflet pairs measuring roughly 3 to 8 inches long and 1 to 2 inches wide. I suppose Coontie "palm" should be handled by professionals only. Coontie Palm Bloom: - Coontie Palms have no flowers, plants are either male or female and female plants can produce a cone like fruit that is quite showy. The sago palm, also known as the coontie palm or the cardboard palm, is a very deadly plant for cats. I will note you and attach a plant picture listing of my plants. You may have already discovered this website, but in case not, Plantsman56 is a world-renown expert on cycads and has written some fantastic articles, including coontie seed germination, on his website, The Cycad Jungle. Male plants and female plants each Do you water or irrigate? The perfect time to collect the seeds is when they get ripe. important role as easy-care plants that provide elegant form and Certain sago palms are also kept as houseplants. Jeremy, I didn't know that about the Coontie Palm, Jeremy. but are actually two unique types of plants. I see your email address above. Some authorities use the term cycad to refer to all members of the division Cycadophyta. Amazing cycads are often called I am not sure I could replace this one so easily. It kept on browning all leaves browned and all stems browned and dried. Although not a true palm, its growth habit is superficially similar to a palm. Coonties do not require, essentially, any watering once they have been well-established. For example, I have several that have 4 or 5 fronds that are the baby fronds, not the mature looking fronds. In pots as I have most of them, they are much slower growers. The female zamia plant produces a large, egg-shaped cone while the smaller male plant has a long, oval-shaped cone. Sago palm ( Cycas revoluta ), also known as coontie palm, cardboard palm, cycads and zamias, is a common plant found outdoors in tropical/subtropical areas. The seeds are not edible and are toxic to touch. Cardboard palm has no distinguishing fragrance and produces a cone instead of flowers. Today they're Cardboard Palm has 3 to 4 foot leaves that emerge from a central point forming a rosette. It is easy to grow in well-drained soils in full sun to partial shade. Large stiff pinnately compound leaves 2-4 feet long with 5 to 30 pairs of leaflets. While I was moving the rocks I noticed a large coontie growing out from under the pile. It is so wide because it has made babies. It is sometimes called Coontie Palm or Coontie Fern based on its tropical appearance. Both are used as food thickeners in baking and cooking, and in making bubble or Boba tea. If you want to be on our e-mailing list to King sago palms can grow to 10 feet, but most seen in Florida landscapes today are generally less than 6 feet tall and wide. Light. (I am included, you couldn't get me to live anywhere else)http://cycadjungle.8m.com/cycadjungle/The%20Coontie%20of%20Florida.html. Zamia furfuracea is not real palm but rather a cycad, like Sago Palm. Coontie palms are quite drought-tolerant once established but will appreciate a little extra water during extended periods of dry weather. Coontie Palms Coral Honeysuckle. Dominic, V. J.; Joseph, Joy P. - Plant Cell Biotechnology and Molecular Biology Volume: 7 Issue: 3-4 Pages: 187-190 Published: SEP-DEC 2006 4. Crown rot is especially deadly once spores cover the crown. Atala butterfly, also known as coontie hairstreak or just atala, is an attractive species from Florida, some other parts of the United States and the Caribbean Islands. My coonties are also in the same heighth range as your cardboard palms. I have now started noticing the tips of some of those new green leaves are turning brown and I'm so concerned I'm going to lose more of the clump if I don't figure out what is happening. All parts of the sago palm plant are toxic, but the seeds are the deadliest, according to the Pet Poison Helpline. Salt tolerance: Slight salt tolerance. First, establish what zone you are in and find out what palms are cold hardy for your zone. our special plants. I'm happy to have some of her offspring! This is the so-called Sago Palm, and is sometimes called the Japanese Fern Palm, which is a very appropriate name. They can both be treated with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil. You would want to fertilize it with a decent fertilizer early March and you should get a good flush within the month. Arborist Gary Knowlton shows the steps to successfully transplant a Cycad Palm. I imagine that this is why cycadjungle will not list where he's seen them growing. Coontie. 1. advise you when you buy a sago to use an oil spray such as neem oil on Gardener's HQ Guide to Growing Coontie A slow-growing, low-maintenance plant, Coontie Palms prefer full sun to partial shade. short, thick trunk. of the Year by the Florida Nursery Growers & Landscape Association (FNGLA). For these reasons, it is a great choice for those who do not want to spend a lot of time caring for their plants. Trunks can branch several times, thus producing multiple heads of leaves. Check out the other Zamia - Cardboard palm. So maybe my coonties aren't really dead, they just dropped all of their leaves. They are about the most hardy plants I know of. Cardboard palms on the other hand are common down here are almost considered a nusiance plant. Cardboard Palms Coontie Palms Crinum Lillies (green and red) Dracenas Orange Bird of Paradise Selloum Philodendron Ti Plants Var Gingers White Bird of Paradise Xanadu Philodendron . The compound leaves grow from a thickunderground stem and unfurl like a fern. You might consider contacting Fairchild. Art, You have D-mail, Art. Click the banana to see, Cardboard Palm The tips of the leaves are prickly on some varieties, Same as Wollemia Nobilis (two plants died no matter what I did) its a finicky plant and I prefer plants that are easy to handle and grow well. Leaflets along the petiole are arranged alternately. Plant Specifics. County Cooperative is recommending the cardboard palm as a replacement. Needless to say I filled 4 shoe boxes with these babies. Oh well, after all that's why I planted it, for the butterflies which were almost extinct. Of the ten plants I purchased last summer, six have suffered this "sudden death", all at different times. Your cycad is indeed a coontie. Select a discolored, dead, dry or broken leaf on the coontie palm plant and grasp it in one hand. I hope that you enjoyed this guide on how to grow Zamia pumila. Looked up Coontie Palm in PlantFiles and yes! I just have one that has several of the regular looking fronds, that's in the ground. The furry brown kernels turn red and then fall off like an ear of corn. Plant in a well-drained area, since cycad plants don't like "wet feet." Thin leaflet types hold up better in the sun, but then even these thin leaflet types are in two categories, the ones that seem to be fairly robust and think and the ones that I mentioned before that many times go deciduous.A possibility that is probably unlikely, but if a cycad is not totally healthy in the first place and it produces a lot of seeds, this can kill the plant. Other cycads include the native coontie, or Zamia pumila, and the widely used king sago, Cycas revoluta. I would like to get this swap done quickly as I want to have the Coonties in the ground by the end of January. Transplanting. An example is that now I have a dead Washingtonia Robusta and a majour nursery in Lexington, SC will not respect their one year warranty (that ends in a few days) and will not replace the dead one with a good one. form a strategic partnership called N.C. Common name (s): coontie. I noticed that the coontie population at Fairchild Garden in Miami appears to be in serious decline as well. Once the seedling has emerged, it will look nothing like your adult plant. Just for reference, the rake is 5' tall. They are planted in full sun and in a well-drained location. Now I will clean, dry & germinate them & in a few years I'll have so many I'll feel like I'm living in a botanical garden. Jeremy, The coontie is host for the Atala butterfly. areas. Hi, Artcons. Read in the PlantFiles about the seed's toxicity for dogs. At LOWE'S there were some with the round "root/body" (?) striking foliage and, once established, requires little water or maintenance, helping explain why it was named a 2007 Florida Plant I have native coonties all over my property. This has occured in zone 10b (Davie, Fl) as well as 9b (Stuart, Fl), my current lcoation. After the female cones are fertilized, they ripen and break open to reveal a number of tightly packed, bright red seeds. Pests/Diseases: Florida red scale and hemispherical scales cause yellow patches on leaves. Silver Saw Palmetto, It was actually attacked by a rabbit most likely and lost 1/3 of its foliage, but recovered, but then later it started browning slowly, then faster, then fearing it may not like our strong sun (it was planted in part sun part shade, watered normally) I moved it into a pot and brought it in a more shade but still with some filtered sun. I believe that the native coontie is on the threatened list. I'm posting here in hopes that a native plan expert will know the answer. If you want to use cardboard plant in your landscape, be sure to select a site that will leave the plant ample room to grow. The coontie is a palm-like cycad plant that is sometimes referred to as the coontie palm and a living fossil. full sun to part shade (dioon prefers some shade). 1. Watch for orange caterpillars that eat the coontie leaves in order to be distasteful to predators. Zamia floridana I've been coveting a cardboard palm and it has been at the top of my plant wish list for quite a while, but I haven't yet been overcome by the urge to plop down $20 or more for a good sized one at the nurseries. I am sure they would grown just fine in Mississippi, Wow! Thanks for the tip. One of the rose bushes has died, and the huge Belinda's Dream is all but dead, all my Penta's are dead, and now I notice the liriope is actually dying back. Good luck with all of your new babies!! Mealybugs are tiny white pests that feed on the sap of plants. Happy coontie growing and butterfly nursing! Leaves pubescent to glabrate; petiole and rachis prickly; leaflets mostly 2-4 cm wide; peduncle subequal to the seed cone. Botanical name: Zamia furfuracea Family: Zamiaceae (Coontie family) Cardboard Palm is a cycad native to Mexico. Not to be dense - I just picked up half a pod of this by the sid eof the road(not sure if it's coontie or cardboard) and I assume the red berry type things are the seeds, or is it the vaguely pinkish nub attached to them? With the processed starch the Seminoles made a thick gruel called "sofkee.". From the article, it doesn't sound like atala kill coonties under normal conditions. Cardboard Palm belongs to the Cycad family (cycad is greek for "palm" which many cycads resemble). What a beauty! Sooty mold and mealy bugs can also attack this plant. I was a working single mom & when the plants died I'd just go buy new ones. Pests: No diseases or pests are problematic on this plant. Good going lluck. I am not into telling people in public forums any exact location of any cycad species in the wild. A healthy female king sago that produces a full head of seeds can use up, up to 60% of the starch content of the stem just to provide for the seeds. Thanks for the info!! LOL Plant type: shrub. A cardboard palm can grow 5 feet tall and wide, though it takes many years. The native cycad is also the larvae of the uncommon Atala butterfly's main feeding source. Water requirement: Maintain moisture, but provide adequate drainage. Kept in an original pot for a couple weeks, did fine, then planted in the ground in spring. It can grow into very old specimens with 6-7 m (over 20 feet) of trunk; however, the plant is very slow-growing and requires about 50-100 years to achieve this height. Provide me your postal address in your reply and I'll get the coonties out to you. Will see how it goes. Great 'found' seeds! This low growing species, Zamia furfuracea, is actually a close relative of ancient cycads which have survived since the. Zamia pumila I do hope we can do the long planned tour of each other's gardens soon. Learn how to get instant curb appeal with fast growing plants and landscaping techniques! Hap. ZZ plant is often used as a pseudo-bonsai. A blue-green algae on the roots is natural and a symbiotic relationship with the algae providing nitrogen for the Coontie. The Cardboard Palm; Coontie Palm (purchased mature, extremely slow growing) King Sago palm; Windmill Palm, European Fan Palm, Needle Palm; Xanadu, Firecracker Plant (slow growing, possibly over time will work) any smaller growing plants in group of three or so; Bird baths, statues, large pots with or without plants, boulders Invasion of the Landscape Snatchers: Tuberous Sword Fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia). 12 Watch Now: How to Grow and Care for a Sago Palm You will have them by the weekend. I definitely want to swap coonties for cardboard palms. Even 20 years ago when I moved up here from Hollywood, you could barely find any single plants. Hope that now, one year later, some of your seeds germinated? Here is a very interesting article about the butterfly: Its being sold in Zone 7B to 8A as "hardy" and I am in a zone 8A or 8B or in between and it dies without even going through a winter, probably I got a sick plant from LOWE'S.I like to buy from big stores, because the nurseries will not hold on to their one year warranty at all. I've exchanged plants back and forth with other cajun-country folk and we've both been happy with the results. Water regularly but let them dry out between waterings. It's one tough cookie - perfect for dry areas, cold tolerant, not choosy as to light - yet it provides an appealing fine-textured look. Perhaps conditions in the first two years are key to the survival of a newly planted specimen. If you have a spare plant, I would love to have one. Temperature preference: Warm, tropical 65F90F. Thanks! Knock away any remaining soil to ensure the roots will get fresh food. Scientific name: Zamia floridana. I am working on something else with these seeds involving some embryo rescue, will see how that goes as well. I did a little investigating & found that there were hundreds of beautiful orange seed pods all over the ground so I immediately ask the manager if he minded if I gathered them up and took them home. Also, mealy bugs which causes sooty mold. While theyre preferred as houseplants, cardboard palms are built drought-tolerant and make perfect additions to xeriscape gardens. While when grown outside, they are often used as borders, in container gardens, as foundation plants, or as a ground cover to give gardens a tropical appearance. However, for those who wish to help with propagation, first remove offsets and transplant them into pots away from mother plants; as the parent plant emits a chemical that eliminates competing seedlings. Also known as Zamia pumila, Zamia floridana. If you were to e-mail me and tell me where you live, I could probably tell you the closest plants that I know of in your particular area. Since there's huge specimens which must be way older than mine, there must be life after seed. The Coontie is native to Florida and is a low-maintenance plant that doesn't require much care. This living fossil hails from the Zamiaceae family. Young children should not play with the leaves or pods because they contain small sharp pieces that can cause serious injuries. Went back to the Coontie plants yesterday but all the seeds have been picked up/cleaned up. On the other hand, the Sago Palm, also known as Cycas revoluta, is a native of Japan and is also a cycad. If you hear any of those names, stay far away from the plants. D-mail me how many you want and include your mailing address. It is very flexible and can grow in almost any kind of soil. : Help Your Plant Bloom, How Long Does It Take Clover to Bloom? The plants will quickly recover. These seeds are so coollike reddish plastic puzzle pieces as they separate from that seed stalkgreat shapes. Sago palms are often called cardboard palms, fern palms and coontie palms. They stay at about the one or two leaf stage for a few years in my yard! Prepare a planting pot for the coontie seeds. This message was edited Dec 16, 2005 4:21 PM, Hey, soozer. It is evergreen and grows 1-3 feet tall and intimewill form clumps. Highly drought tolerant, this Zamia is often used in xeriscape plantings, Folks also love the look of the red seeds we see mature around February in South Florida. You shouldn't have any trouble growing them in Mississippi. 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