The Amazing Cycad

The incredible story of the Cycad blooms at Ventnor Botanic Garden

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Cycads at VBG: 2019 was a big year for them…

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Fossilised cycad trunks have been spitting out of the Isle of Wight cliffs at Compton for years, so we know they were established here 65 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. 

When one of our cycads produced a male cone in 2013, it was the first recorded “flowering” of a cycad in the UK.

Imagine our surprise in the summer of 2019 when an even larger male Cycas revoluta cone arrived, the second recorded flowering, and at the same time a female cone emerged. 

cycadVentnor Botanic Garden

We made the connection between climatic conditions then and now which piqued The Guardian newspaper’s interest. Their story led to a run of media enquiries which enabled us to tell the story of our microclimate and the effects of climate change on the ground at VBG.

Credits: Story

Ventnor Botanic Garden Today Book

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The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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