Cycas revoluta or sago palm

Cycas revoluta or Sago "Palm" is a member of the Cycad family, an ancient group of plants that have been on earth for some 200 million years and might have provided food for Dinosaurs.

Cycads are cone bearing plants like conifers, with male and female cones on separate plants and are even able to change sex.

Of the 300 odd species of cycads, Cycas revoluta is by far the most popular, valued for its beautiful symmetry, dark green colour and its tolerance of neglect, wind and mild frosts.

Cycas revoluta comes from the Japanese island of Okinawa where it grows close to the ocean and is regularly exposed to cyclones.

Cycas revoluta is a slow growing plant taking up to 20 years to form a trunk and is very long lived, there are multitrunk specimens in mainland Japan that are 10 meters tall and over 800 years old.