Little Palm Got No Partners

Rarest and Loneliest Palm in the World

Photo from Kew Botanical Gardens^[1]

    Encephalartos woodii is the loneliest palm in the world. John Medley Wood, in 1895, found a small clump of this cycad in the Ngoye Forest in Zululand, southern Africa. Together with his assistant, James Wylie, smaller vegetative parts of the plant were sent in the Durban Botanic Garden for cultivation. Until this day, there were no other wild specimen of this species that can be found, making it extinct.

Why is it the loneliest plant in the world?

    The Wood's cycad is now considered as the loneliest plant in the world as there are no female plants that can be pollinated with the original specimen. With no available partners for pollination, the cycad can be only reproduced by propagation of its parts with the help of experienced horticulturists.
    There are several efforts to alter the genetic makeup of this rare plant, but were all unsuccessful. Today, there are over 500 male E. woodii conserved worldwide, which are all genetic clones to the first discovered in 1895.

Video from Youtube - Great Big Story (2016)

    The future is yet to come for E. woodii to find its partner. There could be also a shy female of this plant hiding in the deepest forest where no man had set their foot in.


Works cited:
[1] Plants of the World Online (n.d.). Encephalartos woodii Sander. Kew Royal Botanic Gardens.