On today’s show we learn about the Blyde River Cycad, a critically endangered plant native to southeastern Africa, specifically the Mpumalanga province of South Africa.
Rough Transcript
Intro 00:05
Welcome to Bad at Goodbyes.
On today’s show we consider the Blyde River Cycad.
Species Information 02:05
The Blyde River Cycad is a critically endangered plant native to southeastern Africa, specifically the Mpumalanga province of South Africa.
The Blyde River Cycad (Encephalartos cupidus) is a small evergreen cycad only reaching heights of 3-6 ft, though spreading to widths of up to 10 ft. It has a palm or fern like appearance and a suckering growth form.
Suckering refers to a plant’s ability to produce new shoots, suckers, from its root system or its main stem. In the case of the Blyde River Cycad, its main stem is entirely underground (which is unusual) and so instead of above ground branches, the Cycad produces multiple underground stems which grow upward as new shoots. This results in a cluster, arising from a single base, of leafy stems. The Cycad has no branches, like many ferns and palms, its leaves are attached directly to its stems.
The leaves, also known as fronds, form an outward-arching crown reaching lengths of 3 to 4 feet with a pinnate compound structure. Pinnate compound means it is composed of numerous smaller leaflets arranged along a central axis, with a feathery appearance. The leaflets are long and narrow, with serrated edges, tapering to a sharp triangular point at the tip. They are a vibrant blue-green color.
I think, of course, there is great value in knowing and understanding these terms and the specific qualities that make the Blyde River Cycad distinctive. And if you are just wanting an image in your head, picture a tropical fern, like a bush sized tropical fern that’ll get you pretty close.
Cycads are an ancient species. They first appear in the fossil record in the early Permian period, roughly 280 million years ago. Which is, of course, an unfathomable timespan, but for additional context, that is tens of millions of years before the first dinosaur and roughly 100 million years before flowering plants evolve. Cycad were a major component of the world’s flora, growing across the globe in a wide range of environments.
66 million years ago, Cycads survive the K-Pg extinction event, the Yucatán asteroid impact that wipes out the dinosaurs. Though their range and diversity is greatly reduced, their lineage continues to this day, retaining features directly linking them to their ancient ancestors.
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In the dream,
A bit of cell or DNA or mRNA remembers the beginning. The ice melting, the lava cooling, the great dragonflies, kin abundant. A time before violet, before Lavender, before Rose. A flatter, greener world, at the initiation of mountains, before the scaled beasts, this river was a trickle, this canyon was a whisper.
In the dream.
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The Blyde River Cycad is dioecious, meaning individual plants are either male or female, requiring cross-pollination between distinct individuals for successful reproduction.
In late spring, early summer, both male and female individuals produces cones which grow from the main stem at the center of the fronds, right at the surface of the ground. Typically, only a single cone grows per stem, although the Blyde River Cycad will occasionally produce multiple cones simultaneously.
The male cones are long and cylindrical, bright green and roughly a foot in length and 3 inches in diameter. The female cones are also bright green but are more egg shaped, growing up to a foot and half in length and 10 inches in diameter. These cones are enormous and transform the appearance of the plant; into something, like prehistoric.
The male cones produce pollen, and though research is ongoing it is believed that beetles are the primary pollinator. As the beetles move between male and female cones, they inadvertently transfer pollen, facilitating fertilization.
Once fertilization occurs, over the next 6-9 months the female cones develop seeds with a light orange fleshy coating called the aril. The ripe cones then disintegrate, releasing the seeds. The seeds are dispersed by birds and small mammals, who are attracted to the colorful fleshy coating. The animals consume the aril and then either discard the seed or pass it through their digestive system, depositing it in a new location.
Germination can take several months to a year. The outer coat of the seed slowly softens and the radicle, the initial embryonic root, emerges, anchoring the seedling and begins to absorb water and nutrients. Then a single leaf emerges, resembling a small, curled frond.
The Blyde River Cycad is slow-growing; it can take anywhere from 10 to 20 years, or longer, for a seedling to reach reproductive maturity and produce its own cones. They are long-lived, with lifespans potentially exceeding 100 years.
The Blyde River Cycad is native to a specific, roughly 20 sq mile area within the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa.
The Blyde River Canyon is one of the largest canyons in the world, with an average width of roughly 4.5 miles and reaching depths of a half a mile. The canyon is part of the Drakensberg escarpment [UH-SKARP-MINT], a vast geological formation that separates the high-altitude central plateau of South Africa from the lower-lying coast.
Perhaps when I say canyon you imagine the gorgeous sandy desolation of like the Grand Canyon, or Bryce. The Blyde River Canyon is instead a green canyon of lush growth, towering cliffs of red and white sandstone, slopes sculpted by centuries of erosion, rising from the Blyde River and the fertile valley floor.
And our Cycad grows on the slopes and cliffs of the canyon, restricted to elevations between one half and one mile above sea level.
The climate is subtropical, with warm, wet summers and cool, dry winters. Summer temperatures reach highs in the upper 80s°F and winter temps can dip below freezing. Annual rainfall ranges from 24 to 39 inches, with most precipitation falling during the summer months.
The Blyde River Cycad shares the Blyde River Canyon with:
Emerald Cuckoo, River Resin Tree, Vervet Monkey, Black-Backed Jackal, Bald Ibis, Cape Chestnut, Crowned Eagle, Orchid, Cinnamon Dove, Gurney’s Sugarbird, Coral Tree, Common Sugarbush, Jackal Buzzard, Black Eagle, Leopard, Lily, Tree Fern, Falcon, Baboon, Flat Lizard, Blyde River Protea, Red-Breasted Sparrowhawk, Yellowwood, Hippopotamus, Cape Eagle Owl, African Finfoot, Bushwillow, Crocodile, Cape Vulture, Golden-Tailed Woodpecker, Rock Kestrel, Mountain Aloe, Wood Owl and many many more.
The most immediate threat to the Blyde River Cycad population is poaching. Humans illegally removing the species from its native habitat, to be sold on the exotic plants black market for ornamental use.
Human induced climate change also threatens the remaining population. Increasing global temperatures have increased the frequency and severity of both drought and fire, causing high mortality among seedlings and juvenile plants yet to reach reproductive maturity.
The Blyde River Cycad is legally protected in South Africa and its entire known population grows within a protected nature reserve. There is viable offsite cultivation of the species at the South Africa National Botanic Gardens. And though I could not find any followup info a 2017 South African Department Of Environmental Affairs report proposed re-introduction of cultivated seedlings back into the native habitat.
Nevertheless the Blyde River Cycad has been considered critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2003 and their population is currently in decline. Our most recent counts estimate that less than 50 Blyde River Cycad remain in the wild.
Citations 21:04
Information for today’s show about the Blyde River Cycad was compiled from:
IUCN – https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/41884/243425210
Masters Dissertation. Tafirei, R. University of Johannesburg (2016). “An integrative approach towards setting conservation priority for cycad species at a global scale”. – https://ujcontent.uj.ac.za/esploro/outputs/graduate/An-integrative-approach-towards-setting-conservation/9912977807691#file-0
Plant Biology and Biotechnology. “Cycads: An Overview.” Goel, A.K., Khuraijam, J.S. (2015). In: Bahadur, B., Venkat Rajam, M., Sahijram, L., Krishnamurthy, K. (eds). Springer, New Delhi. – https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2286-6_14
SINET: Ethiopian Journal of Science, Vol. 45 No. 1 (2022). “Determining regions of higher extinction risk occurrences in South African cycads”. Bamigboye, Samuel O. – https://doi.org/10.4314/sinet.v45i1.10
“South African Encephalartos Species”. Donaldson, John. (2008). – https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255595089_SOUTH_AFRICAN_ENCEPHALARTOS_SPECIES
South African National Biodiversity Institute. “Encephalartos cupidus. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants” Bösenberg, J.D., Steyn, T. & Donaldson, J.S. 2020. – http://redlist.sanbi.org/species.php?species=823-8
Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalartos_cupidus
World Flora Online. “WFO (2025): Encephalartos cupidus” – https://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000667360
Music 22:19
Pledge 27:35
I honor the lifeforce of the Blyde River Cycad. I will commit its name to my record. I am grateful to have shared time on our planet with this being. I lament the ways in which I and my species have harmed and diminished this species. I grieve.
And so, in the name of the Blyde River Cycad I pledge to reduce my consumption. And my carbon footprint. And curb my wastefulness. I pledge to acknowledge and attempt to address the costs of my actions and inactions. And I pledge to resist the harm of plant and animal kin and their habitat, by individuals, corporations, and governments.
I forever pledge my song to the witness and memory of all life, to a broad celebration of biodiversity, and to the total liberation of all beings.
