Cape Town, South Africa is home to one of ten National Botanical Gardens. Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden is located at the foot of Table Mountain covering roughly 1,300 acres. Besides its beauty the garden is known for preserving the indigenous flora of the surrounding area. Included in that is the Cycad tree. These trees date as far back as the dinosaurs. Cycads are seed plants that resemble palm trees but are not very closely related to the palm species. They grow very slowly and live for a long time. Kirstenbosch does a great job at protecting their Cycads because they have been considered extinct in the wild since 1916.
Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden has the last male Cycad tree, it is pictured above with a green cage around the base to protect the seedlings that are produced. The cage is there to prevent people and animals from taking the seedlings. Since it is the last of its kind people have snuck into the gardens after the garden was closed to the public and tried to steal the seeds. Some of the people have tried to dig up these trees and take them. The seeds of this male tree are on high demand. At Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens they actually collect the seeds and try to germinate them in a lab. Not only is this tree the last male tree, all Cycad trees bark is used for medicinal reasons. The Cycad is an example of the unique flora of South Africa and of how we must work to preserve valued species around the world to ensure their existence.
