Species library › Encephalartos › Encephalartos cerinus
Other Well documented

Encephalartos cerinus

The waxen cycad: a stemless Encephalartos with an underground trunk and 8 to 10 waxy, blue-green leaves 80 to 120 cm long. It is critically endangered and possibly extinct in the wild, from the Tugela valley of KwaZulu-Natal; buy only legally propagated plants.

Encephalartos cerinus
Photo: Photo by David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Dry airBand in Plantistry
Light Full sunDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
Expects a seasonal restGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

Steep, rocky slopes in hot, dry river-valley bushveld, growing among rocks and grass with the leaves in full sun.

The climate site lies at 494 m; the Tugela valley habitat is roughly 400 to 800 m.

KwaZulu-Natal

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

Grow Encephalartos cerinus? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.

Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, unmodified.