Gauhati University | Cycas | Cycadales | Morphology, anatomy and reproduction of cycas | academichunt

                            CYCAS ( Cycadales )                            

Morphology of Cycas:                                                                                   

        Cycas normally they grow in warmer climatic condition. The stem is normally unbranched and it is termed as, Caudex. All the leaves are at the tip in the form of a crown. Rarely branching is also seen in cycas. The leaves are divided into two parts-

(a) Foliage
(b) Scaly


(a) Foliage: Foliage leaves can perform photosynthesis because leaves are green in color. They are compounds too.

(b) Scaly: Scaly leaves are hard and they are branched in structures that normally cover the main stem.


Anatomy of Cycas: 
In cycas ( All plant kingdom ) we found -

• Largest male gamete
• Largest female gamete
• Largest ovule gamete

       In the case of a gymnosperm plant, we found softwoods because of the presence of tracheids. They have lignified cells but they have wide lumen. In the case of an angiosperm plant, it's totally opposite.

   In the case of cycas wood-

        Wood is manoxylic. It has few tracheids and plenty of parenchymas that is the cortex. In the cortex, starch is stored. Because of the stored material, the wood is not durable because if there is some organic material that is reserved as food, it is a good source of food for the organism like fungus, bacteria. So, there are chances of infection so, this wood is not durable and because of the parenchyma in plenty and less of tracheids, it is not compact also.

     In the case of some cycas, the starch which is stored is extracted and is used as "Sago". This is edible also because ultimately it is starch.

• Cycas is a gymnospermic plant so, they are non-flowering seed-producing plants.
• The seeds are naked, not covered with any fruit or anything.
• The ovule is going to be orthotropous.

Second gymnospermic character-

• The endosperm is haploid and is formed before fertilization.

Reproduction of cycas:  

           In the case of reproduction in cycas, there are two separate plants. One plant is going to have mainly male gamete producing structures, which means there will be a male cycas tree and female cycas tree. That means they are dioecious, means male and female are separate.

     The male cycas tree is going to have the male gamete producing structures which are in the form of cones. So, there would be male cones.

     The female cycas tree would produce the female gamete but the gametes are produce of the sporophylls which are called megasporophylls but they are not arranged in the form of a cone.

     In the case of male cycas tree microsporophylls, are arranged in the form of cone or strobilus.

    In the case of female cycas tree megasporophylls, have the female gamete producing structure i.e; ovule but these are not arranged in the form of compact structure which is known as cone or strobilus. So, here no cone is formed in the female structure.

               

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