Zamia cremnophila

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Zamia cremnophila is an endangered cycad found only in Tabasco, Mexico. It was discovered in 1981 on rocky calcareous cliff faces, and its name comes from the Greek word cremnos, meaning cliff, reflecting its habitat. It is related to Zamia purpurea and Zamia splendens.

The plant has a thick stem mostly underground, about 10–25 cm long (often longer) and 3–9 cm in diameter. It carries drooping leaves up to 0.45–2.0 meters long and up to 0.41–0.72 meters wide, with 15–25 pairs of leaflets per leaf. Leaflets are long-lanceolate to oblong, start purplish-red and turn green as they mature; each leaflet is 10–36 cm long and 2–4 cm wide, attached to the central rachis by a 0.8–1.2 cm stalk. The leaf stalk (petiole) is 0.5–4 cm long, and both petioles and the rachis have spines.

Zamia cremnophila is dioecious, so individual plants are either male or female. Male cones are small, cylindrical to conical, about 2.5 cm long and 0.8 cm in diameter, brown and on a hairy stalk. Female cones are larger, cylindrical to barrel-shaped, about 8.5 cm long and 5.5 cm in diameter, deep brown and hairy. Seeds are oval, about 1.5–1.7 cm long and 0.9–1.0 cm wide; the seed coat is white when immature and becomes bright scarlet at maturity.