[sahy-kad] 
| any gymnospermous plant of the order Cycadales, intermediate in appearance between ferns and the palms, many species having a thick, unbranched, columnar trunk bearing a crown of large, leathery, pinnate leaves. |
| cy·cad (sī'kād', -kəd) n. Any of various palmlike gymnospermous cone-bearing evergreen plants of the division Cycadophyta, native to warm regions and having large pinnately compound leaves. [New Latin Cycas, Cycad-, genus name, from Greek kukas, erroneous reading of koïkas, accusative pl. of koïx, a kind of palm tree, perhaps of Egyptian origin.] |
| cycad (sī'kād') Pronunciation Key
Any of various evergreen plants that live in tropical and subtropical regions, have large feathery leaves, and resemble palm trees in that most leaves cluster around the top of the stem. Cycads are gymnosperms that bear conelike reproductive structures at the top of the stem, with male and female cones borne on different plants. Cycads were common in many parts of the Earth during the Jurassic Period and survive today in about 250 species. Sago palms are cycads. |
