About Encephalartos villosus Lem.
Encephalartos villosus Lem. is a dwarf cycad species. Most of its trunk grows underground, so very little of the plant is visible above ground. The crown of the plant is typically made up of tightly packed bracts that are covered in dense grey woolly hair; the species epithet villosus means hairy. Like all cycads, this species is dioecious, meaning individual plants produce either male or female reproductive structures. Male plants can produce up to 15 cones, while female plants only produce one or two cones. The seeds of Encephalartos villosus are embedded in bright-red flesh, and are eaten and distributed by two bird species: the purple-crested lourie (Tauraco porphyreolophus) and the trumpeter hornbill (Bycanistes bucinator). This species prefers to grow in frost-free coastal bush habitat. It hybridizes easily with Encephalartos altensteinii in the Eastern Cape, and with Encephalartos lebomboensis in the Pongola area.
