Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Zamia furfuracea - Cardboard palm/plant

The plant
The Cardboard palm is a "living fossil" having been around for since the dinosaurs' time. It is probably named after cardboards for the stiff quality of the leaves. It is technically not a palm tree, however, actually belonging to the cycad family.

The photo
I am pretty pleased with how the photos turned out, as the colour (at least from my computer) looks nicely green. I realise that I like to take pictures of plants from the top view - a seldom seen perspective of how they spread their young leaves.

The personal-take
I do appreciate the quality of the leaves - having the beautiful symmetry of palm leaves, and yet, a different character from "modern palms" with its distinctive texture. The shape of the leaves also reminds me of certain bamboos.

I suppose the plant should be easy to keep alive, having lived to survive since the prehistoric days. I do wonder if it would be difficult to groom it though, seems like the leaves shoot into difficult directions. In this aspect, it lacks the neatness of the true palms.

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