Encephalartos horridus Seeds

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E. horridus is the leading plant from the famous group of blue cycads from South Africa. Encephalartos horridus prefers full sun, in a very well drained soil. In habitat, it grows in open rocky areas, in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.

A small-to-medium-sized cycad, it grows to 3 feet in trunk height, often forming a dense clump with multiple stems. Its hard, sharply pointed, blue-gray erect leaves are stunning in a garden setting.

In the garden, it prefers a sunny location in very well drained soil. According to the Cycad Society of South Africa, E. horridus is very attractive amongst succulent plants, for example in a rockery, or may be used on its own as an accent plant or with low green shrubs to provide contrast. It is frost tolerant.

Encephalartos horridus is distinguished from the similar E. trispinosus by its thorny lower leaflets and the brownish cones. Its leaves also tend to be more intensely blue. Also, E. horridus leaflets are twisted out of the plane of the leaf while E. trispinosus leaflets are relatively in line with the plane of the leaf.