I have been breeding rare cycads since 1988, and have sold
the extra seeds that I didn't plant out for myself to my private
list of customers who have requested to notified. Many of my customers
were people who would buy my seeds and then double + the price
and sell them on the internet. I don't sell to most of those people
now, so I don't mind making public, the same prices I have always
sold them for in the past. In many cases, you will not publicly
find the species of seeds I make available, yet alone at these
prices.
The seeds I list have either been personally produced by
myself, or some come from a close friend near me that has been
breeding cycads maybe even longer than I have. I check for embryos
in every cone I pick which is the only sure way to confirm cycad
seed viability. If I get these other seeds in from time to time,
I check a few seeds from each batch in the same manner. No seeds
are sold that show low, or poor viability. I store my seeds in
ways to keep them viable for as long as possible. In most cases,
as with Zamias, I keep the fruity seed coat on the seeds, which
helps keep them moist enough so they don't dry up prematurely.
I store most of my uncleaned seeds, as with Ceratozamias, in Sphagnum
peat moss, which is the same medium I use to germinate the same
seeds, using the baggie method. Most of these seeds stay perfectly
viable for at least 5 months. Most of the seeds will be sold out
before that time frame anyway. In some cases, I may only have
50 available seeds of a given species, and might not last very
long at all. Hopefully, I will be able to keep this list current
and delete them from the website once they sell out, but I'm sorry
if you contact me and what you ask for may be sold out. If you
need information on germinating cycad seeds, or learning more
about keeping seeds viable, I have very good articles on those
subjects in my article section. I take great steps to make sure
these seeds are of superior quality, but I do not guarantee in
any way any specific germination rate. Please contact me at cycadjungl@aol.com if you are interested
in any of these seeds. We try to make these superior seeds available
to the good cycad people in the world and will reserve the right
to sell to anyone that I know does not fit that description. All
seeds are sold in groups of 10 or more and there is a $60 minimum
order on seeds. I do not ship Appendix 1 seeds out of the U.S.
and app. 2 seeds are sold to people in other countries on an individual
basis. Since packages can not be insured once they leave the U.S.,
once I have sent the seeds out, I can not insure, or be responsible
for them being properly delivered. Anyone outside the U.S. that
has a problem with this, please find someone you know with a U.S.
address that I can safely ship them to. Thank you for reading
all this. This is a new experiment for me to see if I can do more
to help the world. Tom Broome
Cycad Seeds
I have the first decent amount of seeds of
the rare Zamia "pumila types."Zamia angustifolia may
be one of the most endangered species of cycads in habitat, even
though many collectors have them in cultivation. From the last
Montgomery expedition, it was estimated that there was only about
15 plants from the known location in the Bahamas. This is one
of my main projects for breeding. These have extremely thin leaflets
and have brown emergent leaves. A very cool looking, small cycad.
The seeds are $3 each in groups of 10.
.
Another hard to find seed is the zamia that comes from
Andros Island. Sometimes, even when you hand-pollinate this plant,
it still doesn't produce good seeds, but this has been a good
year, so I should have plenty. These seeds are $2.25 each in groups
of 10.
I have another very special zamia from the
Bahamas that has been called Lucayana, but that is not a valid
described name. It is unique because the leaflets are very stiff,
almost like a Zamia furfuracea, but it is a medium width pumila
type. These seeds are $2.50 each in groups of 10.
I have only 30 seeds of the rare Zamia spartea.
This species is from Mexico. It has very thin, long leaflets.
The true Zamia spartea is hard to find. Many years ago, spartea
hybrids were popping up around south Florida and finding the real
thing was difficult. These are seeds from the real plant. The
seeds are small and once you clean them, they need to be planted.
In fact, if I don't sell these in the next couple of weeks, I
will plant them myself, but this is a chance to get some really
good seeds. Because they are so small, I only want to send them
within the US. These seeds are $4 each, in groups of 10.
I have Zamia variegata (some people know it
as Zamia picta). These are the form from Guatemala which are normally,
on average, nicer than the ones from Belize. They are the only
cycads that are naturally variegated. They are an upright growing
plant that have green leaflets, with yellow spots on the leaflets.
The seeds from the regular form of the Guatemala variegata are
$1.75 each in groups of 10.
I guess this variegata may be just a novelty.
Many years ago I bought a lot of Zamia variegata seeds that came
from Belize and one plant grew out to be totally different than
any of the other plants. I can't even think what it might have
been crossed with to make this plant. It is VERY robust with thicker
leaves that are semi upright, but also lay outwards. The leaflets
have the spots on them just like the normal form plants. It has
become a triple headed female plant that is 8 feet wide in the
same time frame that the other plants are single headed, upright
growing plants, with stems no larger than 4 inches. I will sell
them in groups of 20 for 80 cents a seed.
I have some of the taller, undescribed plants
from Jamaica, that for the last few years, have been called "The
Jamaican Giant" They have leaves that can get to be longer
than 5 feet and have leaflets that are rather thin, looking much
like a larger Zamia portoricensis. They have proven to be pretty
cold hardy and have stood up right along our native Zamia floridana
in landscapes. They grow pretty fast and seem to cluster earlier
than some of the other pumila types. These seeds are $1.75 each
in groups of 10.
I have a batch of seeds from the undescribed Caribbean zamia from
New Providence in the Bahamas. It is one of the only pumila types
that has brown emergent leaves. They are very beautiful and not
plentiful out in cultivation. They are $2.25 each in groups of
10. These make great landscape plants and have color that you
don't get with zamias like coonties or the Dominican plants.
I also have some of the regular, green emergent
form of Zamia amblyphyllidia. These plants have nice, wide leaflets
and makes a great landscape plant. Seeds are $1.25 each in groups
of 10.
About 25 years ago I was buying some coontie
plants to use for landscaping and out of 10,000 plants at that
nursery, about 10 plants were very special. They had nice, wide
leaflets and had an obvious upright form. When I felt the leaflets,
they seemed to be thicker than any other coontie I had seen. I
assumed because of the extra thick leaflets, this special form
would be more xeric than the others. They almost look like a Palatka
Giant in some ways, but will not get to be such a huge plant over
time. I have sold some landscape plants to people in Arizona and
these seem to hold up better and look great in their climate.
They also look great here in Florida in my side yard. After selling
the plants for many years now, I have several customers specifically
asking me for coonties of this exact form. For lack of anything
else to call these, I call them the stiff, upright coontie. Seeds
are sold in groups of 20 at 80 cents per seed.
My last offer is from the two huge Dioon edule
plants from my front yard. Even though these plants didn't come
with collection data, they appear to be the Palma Sola type of
Dioon edule. They are more robust than most edule types and have
even flushed three times in a year. They also have wider leaflets
than many of the edule types.The embryos are full size now, so
they can be planted at once, but they also store very well if
you want to wait until next spring, which is what I'm going to
do with the ones I keep for myself. I was able to pollinate several
cones on my big female last October. After I pick all the cones,
I will be putting these plants up for sale, so even though I have
already pollinated two cones on the female, this may be the last
time I make seeds available on these great plants. I am selling
the seeds in lots of 20, at $1.30 each seed. For those who want
more, I will sell lots of 100+ seeds at $1.05 for each seed.
Email me with your orders to cycadjungl@aol.com
and I will get back with you with your total that will include
shipping, and sales tax if you are in Florida. I take good checks
and Paypal payments for people who want to use a credit card.
This is going to be a great year for cycad seeds. Tom Broome
