Dwarf Sago Palm, Sago cycas
Cycas revoluta
Family: Cycadaceae
What it is like
A palm-like plant. It is evergreen. There can be a single trunk, several trunks or a branched trunk. The stems are 0.3-1.5 m tall. The fronds are stiff. The leaflets are 12-16 cm long by 0.4-0.7 cm wide. Male and female plants are separate. The seeds or nuts are large and orange nuts. The nuts grow in a cluster atop the stems of the plant.
There are about 20-40 Cycas species. Chemical composition (fresh seeds): ca. 0.0164% to 0.220% of combined CH20. After being crushed and dried in the sun, the seeds contained 0.250 to 0.327% of total CH2O of which more than 96% was free. Air-dried starch content was analysed at 44.5%, with 9.15% crude protein. A toxic glucoside, cycasin, has been isolated from the seed kernels.
Where it is found
A tropical plant. It is very hardy. It can resist frost. It suits hardiness zones 9-12. Coffs Harbour. In XTBG Yunnan.
Countries/locations it is found in
Africa, Antigua and Barbuda, Asia, Australia, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, China, East Africa, Guam, Hawaii, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Japan (country/location of origin), Korea, Marquesas, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Pacific, Pakistan, SE Asia, Slovenia, USA, Vietnam
How it is used for food
The trunk is chopped in small sections and dried and leached. It is fermented. The seeds are crushed, washed, cooked and eaten. They are also dried and ground into a powder then mixed with rice and fermented into a miso. The root tubers contain starch. CAUTION: A toxic glucoside, cycasin, has been isolated from the seed kernels. This is toxic and causes cancer.
It is cultivated.
Edible parts
Seeds, nut, stem, starch, caution
How it is grown
Plants can be grown from seed. They can also be grown from suckers at the base.
It is slow growing and long lived. Composition of the trunk/stem is higher in male plants than in female plants, but varies in both according to season. Starch content in the male plant was observed to range (calculated to dry substance from 27% in October, to 61% in June, averaging 50% over the year. Female plant trunk/stems average 26% annually. In the female plant, trunk/stem starch content is affected by seed production.
Its other names
Local names
Feng wei jiao ye, Fossil Cycad, Japanese Fern Palm, Japanese sago cycad, Japanese sago palm, Japan-mondaing, Madanagameswari, Penawar jambe, Sikas pakis lasa, Sikas sagu, Sotesu-nut, Sotetsu, Sotichi, Zavitolistni sagovec