1. Zamia Linnaeus, Sp. Pl., ed. 2. 2: 659. 1762.
[Derivation equivocal, perhaps from misreading of Latin azania, a kind of pine cone, or from Latin zamia, loss, from the "sterile appearance" of the pollen cones]
Stems often branched, subterranean to aboveground. Leaves broadly oblong-elliptic; leaflets entire to coarsely dentate, without midribs, venation dichotomous but appearing parallel. Cones distinctly peduncled. Pollen cones more slender than seed cones. x = 8.
Species ca. 30 (1 in the flora): subtropics and tropics, North America, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America.
SELECTED REFERENCES
Duncan, W. H. 1979. Zamia (Cycadaceae) new for Georgia. Sida 8: 115--116.
Eckenwalder, J. E. 1980. Dispersal of the West Indian cycad Zamia pumila L. Biotropica 12: 79--80.
Eckenwalder, J. E. 1980b. Taxonomy of the West Indian cycads. J. Arnold Arbor. 61: 701--722.
Hardin, J. W. 1971. Studies of the southeastern United States flora. II. The gymnosperms. J. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc. 87: 43--50.
Kral, R. 1983b. Cycadaceae: Zamia integrifolia Ait. In: R. Kral, ed. 1983. A Report on Some Rare, Threatened, or Endangered Forest-related Vascular Plants of the South. Washington. Pp. 20--23. [U.S.D.A., Techn. Publ. R8-TP 2.]
Landry, G. P. 1980. The Ecology and Variation of Zamia pumila L. in Florida. M.S. thesis. Louisiana State University.
Stevenson, D. W. 1987. Again the West Indian zamias. Fairchild Trop. Gard. Bull. 42(3): 23--27.
Stevenson, D. W. 1987b. Comments on character distribution, taxonomy and nomenclature of the genus Zamia L. in the West Indies and Mexico. Encephalartos 9: 3--7.
Ward, D. B., ed. N.d. Rare and Endangered Biota of Florida. Vol. 5. Plants. Gainesville. Pp. 122--124.