cycad

cy·cad  (skd, -kd)

n.

Any of various palmlike gymnospermous cone-bearing evergreen plants of the division Cycadophyta, native to warm regions and having large pinnately compound leaves.

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[New Latin Cycas, Cycad-, genus name, from Greek kukas, erroneous reading of koïkas, accusative pl. of koïx, a kind of palm tree, perhaps of Egyptian origin.]

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cycad  (skd)

Any of various evergreen plants that live in tropical and subtropical regions, have large feathery leaves, and resemble palm trees in that most leaves cluster around the top of the stem. Cycads are gymnosperms that bear conelike reproductive structures at the top of the stem, with male and female cones borne on different plants. Cycads were common in many parts of the Earth during the Jurassic Period and survive today in about 250 species. Sago palms are cycads.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

cycad - any tropical gymnosperm of the order Cycadales; having unbranched stems with a crown of fernlike leaves gymnosperm - plants of the class Gymnospermae having seeds not enclosed in an ovary Cycas revoluta, sago palm - dwarf palmlike cycad of Japan that yields sago zamia - any of various cycads of the genus Zamia; among the smallest and most verdant cycads ceratozamia - a small cycad of the genus Ceratozamia having a short scaly woody trunk and fernlike foliage and woody cones; Mexico dioon - any cycad of the genus Dioon; handsome palmlike cycads with robust crowns of leaves and rugged trunks encephalartos - any of numerous cycads of the genus Encephalartos having stout cylindrical trunks and a terminal crown of long often spiny pinnate leaves Encephalartos caffer, kaffir bread - South African cycad; the farinaceous pith of the fruit used as food macrozamia - any treelike cycad of the genus Macrozamia having erect trunks and pinnate leaves and large cones with sometimes edible nuts; Australia burrawong, Macrozamia communis, Macrozamia spiralis - large attractive palmlike evergreen cycad of New South Wales