ZAMIA POEPPIGIANA

This member of the Zamiaceae family was given this name by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius and August Wilhelm Eichler in 1863. It is found in the coastal plains and foothills of the Cordillera Occidental in Ecuador, Acre, Brazil and south-western Colombia as well as in Peru (Loreto province) and in south-western Colombia. It grow from 300 to 1000 metres height, in a rich soil with quite some water and little to some sun. The stem can grow to 25 centimetres in diameter, the entire plant to 400 centimetres in height. The cones are brown. The genera name from the Latin zamia, for 'pine nut'. The species name after Eduard Friedrich Poeppig, 1798-1868, a German botanist, zoologist, and explorer from Leipzig who first collected the species during an expedition to Brazil and Peru. The female cone. An old drawing of a younger plant.