A Publication of the Cycad Society Dedicated to the Conservation of Cycads through Education and Scientific Research Volume 27 Number 4 - December 2004 In This Issue: Presidents and Editors Reports 2 A New Panamanian Zamia 7 Cycads of the Sand The Cycad Newsletter 3 Cycad Focus: Page The1 Genus Bowenia 10 Presidents Report Tom Broome hope all of you have enjoyed being a member of the I Cycad Society this year Bart continues to produce great newsletters, and Roy has done very well with his new job as the seed bank coordinator I know Bart can always use more articles for the newsletter, so I urge any of our members that think they might like to write something, to give it a try Even if you dont think you Board of Directors write very well, Bart can work wonders with your text (Terms end December 31st of year shown) If you are close, but undecided, send Bart an e-mail to Tom Broome - President(2004) talk about the possibility Im sure he would appreciate The Cycad Jungle PO Box 325 any input from you Bart also loves high quality photos Polk City, FL 33868 Even if you dont want to write an article, feel free to CycadJungl@aolcom send him your best cycad pictures He may be able to Terrence Walters, PhD - Vice Pres(2004) Executive Director, Montgomery Botanical Ctr use one on a cover sometime, or work it in with an article that someone else is 11901 Old Cutler Road writing Roy has made a lot of good seeds available, and he has made this year the Miami, FL 33156-4242 walters@fiuedu most successful year thus far for the seed bank He could not have done it without your help! Thanks to everyone who has supported the seed bank this year The Jody Haynes - Secretary(2006) Montgomery Botanical Center distribution of seeds to our members helps greatly in cycad conservation because 11901 Old Cutler Road it reduces the demand for wild-collected plants With the extra funds the seed- Miami, Florida 33156-4242 jodyhaynes@bellsouthnet bank makes available, the society should be able to step up its conservation-orient- Maurice Levin - Treasurer(2006) ed activities to the next level 9560 Gloaming Drive I want to congratulate the new and re-elected board members from our recent Beverly Hills, CA 90210 MauriceLevin@CycadPalmcom election Our newly elected board members are Terrence Walters, RL Frasier, Craig Nazor - Membership Director(2004) Craig Nazor, Fred Elsea, Greg Holzman, and myself Thanks to all of you who are 11803 Hyacinth Dr willing to use your time to support our society I also want to thank all of our mem- Austin, TX 78758 membership@cycadorg bers who took the time to vote in our election I want to especially thank Bruce Ironmonger for everything he has done for the society He and his wife Suzi have Bart Schutzman, PhD - Publications Director supported the society with articles for the newsletter, donations of plants for our Univ Florida Environmental Hort Dept auctions, and Bruce helped with a great presentation at our last cycad symposium 200A Mehrhof Hall Gainesville, FL 32611-0675 in Austin Along with all this, he also spent a lot of time as a board member trying to cycad@ifasufledu improve our society Bruce will be working with other cycad related projects apart Jeff Chemnick(2006) from the society and will be sorely missed 114 Conejo Road Santa Barbara, CA 93103 jeffchemnick@coxnet Editors Message Fred Elsea(2004) 1507 Olive Lane La Cañada, CA 91011 Bart Schutzman fjelsea@charternet RL Frasier - Back Issues(2004) ith the publication of this December issue of the Cycad Newsletter we are 5302 McCarty Lane W Austin, Texas 78749 now back on track on what would have been our normally rigorous time rlfrasier@sbcglobalnet schedule Again, I sincerely apologize for this delay in getting the September issue Tim Gregory, PhD(2006) to you and hope that Florida doesnt get four hurricanes in a single season again, 564 Shoal Cir at least during our lifetimes! Redwood City, CA 94065 tim@genecom Also, I wish to reiterate what Tom said above about sending in articles - I pre- Bruce Ironmonger(2004) maturely stated in my March 2004 message that I had plenty of articles rolling in; PO Box 754 unfortunately, this was a short-lived phenomenon, a will-o-the-wisp as it were Bonsall, CA 92003-0754 cycadcenter@msncom So I would like now to make a new request to you all for materials They will be Garrie P Landry(2006) appreciated by all of us If you been on a sojourn anywhere in the subtropical or Univ of Louisiana at Lafayette tropical regions of the world and found cycads, allow these to be vicariously en- PO Box 42451, Lafayette, LA 70504 joyed by all of our members! Those photos, whether they are lodged in your garrie@cox-internetcom computers hard drive or pasted into your scrapbook, wont ever be enjoyed by Tom Tinguely(2006) 2730 South Congress Ave the information- and photo-hungry masses! In each issue I typically find one or Austin, TX 78704 two of my old slides that would be very useful in other peoples articles, without tom@gardenadventurescom much effort Even if you dont have time to write an article, please send in just Roy F Morris II - Seedbank Director slides or photos if they are sharp and you can identify the species that are de- 2635 Ewell Road Lakeland, FL 33811 picted cycadseedguy@aolcom I would also like to revisit some of the other cycad-related topics that have been in Cycad Newsletters of the past, such as depictions of cycads on stamps COVERS: and coins, or art forms such as paintings, wood carvings, ceramics, etc We could do a much better job with todays graphic technology showing these items to you Front: Zamia neurophyllidia on Isla Bastimentos (Photo by Jody Haynes, MBC) now than the newsletter was able to in the past, so I think these would be enjoy- Back: able subjects The more diversified our articles are, the more individuals we can interest in the society, the better TCS can be! The Cycad Newsletter Page 2 Cycads of the Sand: The Beach-dwelling Zamias of Bocas del Toro, Panama Article and Photos by Greg Holzman1 & Jody Haynes2 Our primary goal was to assess the discovered and named more than 150 habitat, morphology, ecology, phenolo- years ago, it is remarkable that it is still gy, and conservation status of as many island populations as possible Soil sam- ples were to be taken and cones col- lected What we discovered at one locality were perfect white sand beach- es with literally tens of thousands of Zamia trees growing on themin areas where waves are known to roll right through the populations three or Fig 1 Map of Bocas del Toro showing the major islands and place names on the main- four times a year and where winds blow land (after Fig 1a of Anderson & Handley, 20-30 knots onshore, sending salt spray 2002; used with permission) up the hills behind the beaches Some- times dreams do come true and in this Cycad expeditions tend to take on a case, success was in every step we left life of their own once the players com- on those beaches! mit to the objective This year the ob- This is the story of the cycads of jective was to assess populations of the the sand Zamia skinneri/Z neurophyllidia com- plex of western Panama Misunderstood Overview of the and mysterious, these plants are among Groove-leaved Zamias the most beautiful and wondrous of all Central American cycads The genus Zamia currently contains Jody Haynes, Gregg Hamann, and seven named species with veins that are Greg Holzman were to meet up with Dr prominently sunken on the upper sur- Alberto Taylor of the University of Pana- face of the leaflets and protruding be- ma in mid-September on a Montgomery low, resulting in a corrugated appear- Botanical Center(MBC)-sponsored expe- ance and texture that is technically dition to investigate reports of cycads referred to as plicate Two of these growing on beaches and near salt water groove-leaved zamias, Z amplifolia on several islands in the Bocas del Toro hort Bull ex Mast (1878) and Z wallisii Archipelago None of us had ever seen a A Braun (1875), are Colombian endem- reference to salt tolerance in Z neuro- ics, while Z roezlii Linden (1873) occurs phyllidia or Z skinneri, yet these were in Colombia and adjacent Ecuador, and the only cycads known in that part of Z urep Walln (1996) is restricted to Fig 3 Female (A) and male (B) cones of Zamia Panama The idea that an arborescent central Peru The other three repre- neurophyllidia at Wizard Beach cycad could be growing on a Caribbean sent a group of closely-related species islands white sand beach was just too from Panama (and possibly Costa Rica?), enticing to resist a look! the oldest known being Z skinneri After months of extensive and care- Warsz ex Dietrich (1851) and the newest ful planning, we set out to Bocas del named species being Z dressleri DW Toro during a time of the year when we Stev (1993) and Z neurophyllidia DW hoped the weather would allow us to Stev (1993) Even though Z skinneri was reach our stated island objectives It rains most of the year in this part of the world, and strong winds can create horrendous sea conditions None of us wanted any part of rainy and stormy oceans, so the timing of the expedition was selected with help from Gregg, who has sailed the area often, and from Capt Louis Anciaux, owner and opera- tor of Panama Jet Boat Explorer and new inductee into the wonderful world of cycads Weather was never a problem for us; instead, we were blessed with Fig 2 Gregg Hamann (left) and the first the best conditions of the yearlight author (right) try to contain their excitement Fig 4 The authors (left and right, respective- in the midst