The conservancy that I’m developing in West Delray Beach, FL, has one of the largest and best-curated palm tree collections in the world, as well as a growing collection of outdoor sculptures, a traditionally styled Japanese tea house, a stock of African cycads, and dozens of other exotic plants and trees.

Here’s one of the cycads:

Sclavo’s Cycad

Binomial name: Encephalartos sclavoi

This critically endangered cycad (only 50 mature plants remain in their natural habitat) is endemic to Tanzania. It was named in honor of Jean Pierre Sclavo, a French collector of cycads who discovered it. Several species of Encephalartosare commonly referred to as bread trees, because a bread-like food can be prepared from the pith of the stem. In fact, the genus name is derived from the Greek words en (“within”), kephalē (“head”), and artos (“bread”).

For more information about Paradise Palms, click here.