Encephalartos

Encephalartos is a genus of cycad native to Africa. Several species of Encephalartos are commonly referred to as bread trees, or bread palms since a bread-like starchy food can be prepared from the centre of the stem. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek ἐγκέφαλος, meaning "head", and ἄρτος, meaning "bread", referring to the use of the pith to make food. They are, in evolutionary terms, some of the most primitive living gymnosperms.

Encephalartos

Michael Wolf · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
bread treePBDB
Sits inside
CycadaceaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Streptophyta

Time the record covers

At most 5.4 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 5.333 Mya and 11.7 ka, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Miocene — about 0 of 1 occurrencePliocene — about 1 of 1 occurrencePliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 1 occurrencePleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 1 occurrence5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.8 Mya0 Mya

1 occurrence of Encephalartos on record, most of them in the Pliocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Lusso Beds — 0.03°N, 29.62°E

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The named rock units Encephalartos has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Encephalartos and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Encephalartos and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

55 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Encephalartos, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Encephalartos

Credit
Michael Wolf
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Encephalartos was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCycadaceae through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lehmann 1834