The female cycad has a rounded cone that holds the seed, while males produce a taller slender cone that contains pollen.

John Allen has an addiction, and he readily admits it. He can’t live without cycads. He has planted dozens of varieties of ...

Scientists discovered a strange reproductive method in primitive cycad plants: The plants heat up and emit a toxic odor to drive pollen-covered insects out of male cycad cones, and then use a ...

The thrips feed on cycad pollen, which is contained in whitish sacs visible under the cone scales. As the odor dissipates, thrips are attracted back to the cones, but some mistakenly go to female ...

A tropical plant has produced male and female cones outdoors in the UK for the first time in 60 million years, in an event that botanists say is a clear indication of climate change.

Cycad female cones produce heat (several degrees centigrade over ambient temperature) when ready to be pollinated. And, without flowers, coonties create odors to attract insects to gather pollen ...

A tropical plant has produced male and female cones outdoors in the UK for the first time in 60 million years, in an event that botanists say is a clear indication of climate change.

Cycads use heat and a toxic stench to drive insects out of male cones in the afternoon, only to lure them into female cones in the evening with a more alluring scent.

The Ventnor Botanic Garden on England’s Isle of Wight announced the appearance of female and male cycad cones earlier this month.

The unmistakable male cone of the Cycas micronesica. Photo courtesy of Thomas Marler. “The primitive features of the plant conjure up thoughts of ancient life on Earth.

A tropical plant has produced male and female cones outdoors in the UK for the first time in 60 million years, in an event that botanists say is a clear indication of climate change.