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Message from the Editor Dear Members of the Cycad Society: I am pleased to announce that I have recently assumed the duties of editor of the Cycad Newsletter It is an exciting new endeavor for me Having studied the taxonomy and biology of Zamia and the other New World cycads for more than twenty years, I believe that this position will be a natural extension of the enjoyment I have had all these years A Publication of the Cycad Society dealing with cycads and cycad enthusi- Dedicated to the Conservation of Cycads through Education asts; after all, I am a cycad nut myself! and Scientific Research So, I would be happy to look over anything you cycad lovers all over the world care to submit to the newsletter I would Volume 25 Number 1 - March 2002 prefer to receive these as e-mail attach- ments in Microsoft Word or plain text files, but if you care to mail a floppy disk, The Cycad Societys Board of Directors this too is acceptable I would like the Tom BroomePresident Lynne M Clos newsletter to appeal to all cycad The Cycad Jungle 1185 Claremont Drive people from academics to those who 9128 Golden Gate Bl Boulder, CO 80303 simply enjoy watching these marvelous Polk City, FL 33868 lmclos@netonecom plants grow in their gardens and green- CycadJungl@aolcom Tim Gregory houses year after year I will look forward R L FrasierVice President 564 Shoal Cr to working with you! 5315 Sunshine Drive Redwood City, CA 94065 Austin, Texas 78756 tim@genecom Dr Bart Schutzman RLfrasier@aolcom Larry Krauss University of Florida Terrence Walters, PhDTreasurer 3355 Blanchette Trail Environmental Horticulture Dept Executive Director Lake Worth, FL 33467 1525 Fifield Hall Montgomery Botanical Center LKRAUSS55@aolcom Gainesville, FL 32611-0670 11901 Old Cutler Road Donald J Kurth Miami, FL 33156 10569 Apple Lane E-mail: cycad@mailifasufledu walters@fiuedu Alta Loma, CA 91737 Tel: (352) 392-1831 x 332 Jody HaynesSecretary DonKurth@aolcom Fax: (352) 392-3870 9525 Jamaica Dr Garrie P Landry Miami, FL 33189 University of Louisiana at Lafayette webmaster@plantapalmcom PO Box 42451, Lafayette, LA 70504 SC Doughty, PhDBack Issues garrie@cox-internetcom LSU-Shreveport, Room 107, Bronson Hall Irvin R McDaniel Shreveport, LA 71115 4034 Crest Heights 318/797-5306 FAX 318/797-5135 Fallbrook, CA 92028-4908 sdoughty@pilotlsusedu irval@simplywebnet Liz Butler 1612 Hollow Pl LibrarianLibby Besse El Cajon, CA 92019 6729 Peacock Rd cycadmania@aolcom Sarasota, FL 34242 In This Issue: The Search for the Ultimate Cycad Seed Cleaning Procedure 2 Presidents Message 3 Propagation and Culture of Cycads: A Practical Approach 4 Seedbank Report 5 Treasurers Report 6 Panamanian Paradise Revisited 7 Open Letter from Mike Michaelson 9 Contributors to the Cycad Society: Jan2001-Jan2002 13 The Cycad Newsletter Page 1 The Search for the was the only natural way I had ever heard of Ultimate Cycad Seed In 1992, an old grovesman told me Cleaning Procedure a story about a product he had used in the 1950s to separate the seeds from Tom Broome oranges so that they could be used to plant rootstock material for grafting One of the difficult aspects of citrus He told me how they would growing zamias is the chore of cleaning throw massive amounts of oranges in a the seeds Unlike the seed coats of large cow trough and then cover the other cycad seeds, most zamias have a oranges with water He would next very rubbery seed coat that sticks to pour a cup full of an unknown liquid the seed I have seen hundreds of into the trough In approximately a thousands of seeds wasted because week the oranges would break down people did not have the time or the into pulp, and the seeds would sink method to clean them down to the bottom of the trough The Zamia floridana seed prior to cleaning In my early years of growing cycads most important aspect of this method I would only produce 100 seeds or less was that the seeds were still viable I at a time I would watch TV at night, wondered if something like this would scraping the seeds one at a time with work with cycad seeds The man didnt my pocket knife I had to find a better even know how to read and could not way than this Next, I put the seeds in give me any clues as to what this an empty pot and placed it near a fire product may have been ant mound Within a week the ants After months of searching (most would pick the seeds clean This people didnt even know what I was worked pretty well but the ants asking about) I discovered that product wouldnt clean more than a couple of was a pectinase enzyme From what I hundred seeds before they would lose was told the enzyme breaks down the interest Dr Bijan Dehgan at the cellular structure of fruit but wouldnt University of Florida told me his harm other materials such as seeds or Scarring seeds after three days soaking favorite method was using a wire brush plant material In Florida this enzyme on a drill He instructed me to put the is still used to separate the orange seeds in a coffee can, cut a hole in the seeds from the fruit in mass quantities lid, and insert the wire brush into the In North Carolina it has been used to drill through the lid so that when it was make apple juice By using the placed on the can it would keep any enzyme, more juice can be produced extra material from flying out when the from each apple because there is no drill was turned on This worked very wasted material, except for the seeds, well but I needed something that would to throw away I thought I would check clean thousands of seeds at a time I all this for myself so I procured some improved on this method by taking a enzyme and conducted a few length of all thread (a metal shaft experiments I put some Zamia with threads all the way up and down), floridana seeds in three different cups, and placing three large wire brushes on and put three different strengths of the shaft with nuts in between each enzyme solution to test for speed of cleaning I used 1/2, 1, and 1 1/2 brush I would fill an entire five gallon Seed soup ready to wash bucket full of seeds, add water and a teaspoons of enzyme per pint of water little sand, and scrape the seeds for for the three different cups After a almost an hour I would then use a week, there was what appeared to be a pressure hose to clean off most of the liquid wax floating on the top, and residue, but not all seeds were after two weeks only a few seeds were perfectly clean I have seen other clean I assumed the enzyme was nurserymen over the years use rock having a hard time penetrating the tumblers, cement mixers, and potato seed coat I tried scraping the seed peelers to clean their seeds but they coat a little for my next experiment found that many of the seeds would be Eureka! The enzyme entered the wound damaged One nurseryman used to and broke down the coat from nick the seed coat, place his seeds on a underneath Depending upon the size bed of clean sand, cover with a screen, of the hole the seeds were perfectly and pile oak leaves on everything clean in as soon as five days using the After a month or so the bugs and 1 1/2 teaspoon rate All I had to do natural enzymes would clean the seeds after that was to rinse them in water Even though it sounded bizarre, this continued page 15 Rinsing off the cleaned seeds The Cycad Newsletter Page 2 worked on The Cycad Newsletter goes on, and if everything turns Presidents Message She not only took our newsletter to out right, there should be seeds a whole new level, but spent a available to our seed bank from great deal of her own time these and other sources For our searching for articles She even new members, the seed bank attended all of our board makes available many rare species meetings She was also responsible of cycad seeds Seeds are made for putting together the majority available in usually small of our two-day meeting in New quantities so our members are able Orleans this past year This really to afford to get these rare species shows her dedication to our in their collections Darin is going society, particularly because she out of his way to make sure that was never a member of the board the seeds you get are as true to or even a member of our society I name as possible and you can be hope as time goes on, both of sure that the seeds are all safe and these things will change Debra has legal Sorry, but seeds of Appendix I would like to welcome all our already joined our society, and 1 species are not allowed to be new members as well as our hopefully someday, if she is still exported to countries outside of returning members to a new year willing, she would make a great the US Darin cares a lot about with the Cycad Society This is my addition to our board Debra, Im cycads and cycad conservation, first official year as president and I sure I can speak for all of our and should be commended for all hope it will be a good one for members and say thank you very his efforts everyone At our last board meet much for everything you have As you can see from the ing, we took a great deal of time done treasurers report, funds and discussing what we could do to You may have noticed one of especially donations are on the improve the society, and the our new improvements already, in increase We have many members quality of the product our that this is our first issue that has that care about our society and members receive As the year goes been professionally printed This because of their efforts and on, you will continue to see the issue will be our first issue printed donations, our society is becoming improvements we have planned in full color Color