
Manual of the Southeastern Flora - Small
Copyright - UNC Press 1998, 1999. All Rights Reserved.
1. Z. integrifolia Ait. Leaves 4-9 dm. long; leaflets 8-11 cm. long, the blades linear, 3-7 mm. wide, 8-16-veined, often revolute and very stiff: staminate cone narrowly cylindric, 8-13 cm. long: mature ovulate cone cylindric-ellipsoid, 12-16.5 cm. long: nut-like part of seed ellipsoid, 17-19 mm. long, nearly terete. [Z. foridana DC.] -- Dry sandy pinelands or rarely coastal dunes, pen. and N Fla., and occasionally lower Keys. - The starchy underground stem of this cycad was the main native source of flour for the Fla. aborigines and for the Seminoles. The phenomenal growth on the Everglade Keys now furnishes "Florida arrowroot" to the white man. The stems are frequently branched.
2. Z. angustifolia Jacq. Leaves 1-2 m long: leaflets 12-20 cm. long, the blades narrowly linear-attenuate, 3-6 mm. wide, 10-14-veined, flat or nearly so, minutely toothed at the apex: inflorescence not seen in Fla. (Bahamian specimens are described as having oblong-cylindric staminate cones 5-7 cm. long and mature ovulate cones 8-9 cm. long.) - Humus, wet hammock islands, between Royal Palm Hammock and Cape Sable, Fla. - (W. I.) - The stems are large but simple.
3. Z. silvicola Small. Leaves 1 m. long or less; leaflets 12-17 cm. long, the blades linear, often broadly so, 1-1.0 cm. wide, 14-20-veined, flat, obscurely toothed at the apex: staminate cone cylindric or slightly tapering upward, 8-16 cm. long: mature ovulate cone ellipsoid-cylindric, mostly 9-14 cm. long: nutlike part of seed broadly obovoid, 18-20 mm. long, decidedly flattened, minutely pointed at both ends. - Humus, rich sandy soil, aboriginal village sites, and shell mounds, pen. Fla. - Our most robust zamia, often abundant on the upper western coast, and locally in hammocks to the S. Plants on the shell mounds often have branching stems.
4. Z. umbrosa Small. Leaves mostly less than 0.5 m. long; leaflets 7-11 cm. long,the blades linear-oblanceolate, linear-elliptic, or broadly linear. 8-16 mm. wide, 20-30-veined. flat. callous-toothed at the apex. firm: staminate cone narrowly cylindric, 7-11 cm. long: mature ovulate cone cylindric, 6.0-11 cm. long or rarely longer: nut-like part of seed obovoid, 10-17 mm. long, evidently 3-sided. [Z. pumila (Fl. SE. U. S.) Hammocks, sand-dunes, and shell mounds, NE Fla. - Primarily a hammock plant and especially abundant on the kitchen-middens and aboriginal village sites of the upper eastern coast. The stems are frequently simple.