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FAN AND FEATHER NEWSLETTER
Published by the Gulf Coast Chapter of the International Palm Society
SPRING ISSUE * MARCH 2017
Feature Article: ZAMIA PUMILA
BY:J Taverniti
This issue of Fan and Feather instead of featuring a palm we
will be looking at a cycad: Zamia pumila also is listed as Z.
floridana and commonly known as Coontie. It is the only cycad
native to North America, (not counting Mexico) specifically,
peninsular Florida and three counties in SE Georgia. It was at
one time abundant throughout peninsular Florida but due to it
being a source of food for humans and being very slow
growing it is not very common presently in the wild.
The name 'Coontie' actually is derived from the Native
American word meaning 'flour root'. Another common name
for this plant is 'arrow root', and during the early 1900's it was
widely harvested and processed into starch in factories all
over South Florida. These factories produced starch from
Coontie, some of them up to 10 to 15 tons per day. By 1925
the once vast populations of Coonties were reduced to a small
remnant. In some areas of south Florida there were large
colonies especially near what is now Miami and Ft
Lauderdale. In fact, there were so many in the Ft Lauderdale
area that the Indians called this place "Coontie Hatchee".
The Seminole moved to Florida in the mid 1700s and used
this plant as an important source of food. It was the Seminole
who gave us the name 'Coontie' which as stated above,
means 'flour root.' They processed the Coontie by cutting up
pieces of the root, pounding it nearly to powder, then putting
them through several washes, letting the starch sink to the
bottom. The resultant paste that formed was fermented, and
then dried to a powder and then used to make a flat bread,
called Seminole bread. Nowadays, Coontie are rarely
consumed for food but rather are appreciated for their value
as a landscape plant.
The hardiness zone range for Coontie is 8B to 11, which
encompasses all of Florida, the Gulf Coast and much of the
West Coast as well as the most significant population centers
of Texas and Arizona. Coontie are best suited for partial
shade but do well in full sun. In Florida they are frequently
used in low maintenance landscape situation including urban
highway medians. This is a rugged but subtle accent plant
that boasts a deep green color and unique form. Although a
slow grower, Coontie is very tough, drought resistant and easy
to maintain. And although it is not a palm, in its low growing
profile, its leaf habit suggests a palm look-alike. Speaking of
form, with its arching leaves a single Coontie can stand
upwards of 3 feet and a colony of suckers can slowly form a
mound 5 to 6 feet wide. Coontie do best in soils with
moderate to good drainage. Soil pH is not usually a
limiting factor, and Coontie are considered to be salt
tolerant. The plant stores carbohydrates in a caudex
which allows it to survive relatively long periods without
water. The caudex also makes it possible to sell bare root
plants, which can be a great advantage when shipping
long distances Unfortunately, due to its long tap root in
mature plants, and the fact that Coontie roots are very
sensitive to being disturbed, it is very difficult to dig without
damage to the root and transplanting has a low success rate.
Plants should not be dug from the wild, as it will continue to
deplete the native population and survival rate is low on
these extracted plants. Instead Coontie are readily available
from certain nursery outlets and online. Also, Coontie produce
an abundant seed crop and individuals can be grown from
seed which we'll talk about further along in this article.
Coontie are dioecious plants. The male plants produce
cones that emerge in August and shed pollen in
November and December. Male cones can be up to 16
cm in length and are usually 3-5 cm in diameter.
Female cones emerge at the same time and are
rounded and 14 cm in diameter. Female cones are
generally shorter and always broader than male cones.
Pollinators for Coontie are two different species of
beetle and the wind. At one time there was an
extensive planting of Coontie around the Naval Hospital.
From them, I collected seed and grew the Coontie that I
presently have on my property. Unfortunately, all of
those Coontie were removed when the hospital grounds
were re-landscaped during an expansion project.
Growing your own from seed is the primary way to get
Coontie. The key to Coontie seed germination is
removal of the seed coat residue. The seed coat is
thought to inhibit germination. To do this, collect seed
from female plants when the seed cone begins to break
apart. Soak seed in water for six to eight weeks to
soften the seed coat. After this step place the seeds in
a bucket 1/4 to 1/2 full of uncleared seed. Add sufficient
water to barely cover seed. Use an electric drill
equipped with a long shank and a round wire brush to
agitate the seeds in the bucket. When the water is thick
with seed seed coat residue, empty the bucket into a
strainer or onto a wire mesh screen and wash with a
stream of water. This may take three or four cycles.
After seeds are clean they can be planted in community
pots to save space as the seeds will germinate
erratically over a two year period. Keep the community
pots watered to remain moist. As they germinate and
attain a little size they can be transplanted to single pots
and eventually placed in the ground.
CAUTION: seeds in community pots should be covered
with hardware cloth. I like to cut the wire into a disk that
neatly fits into the top of the pot and can also be easily
removed. Why do this? Because rats and squirrels like
these seeds more than you do and will steal them right
out of the pot even though planted under soil.
There are few pests that bother Coontie. About the only
one of significance is Red Scale, which can be controlled
with horticultural or dormant oil.
A close relative of the Coontie is the Cardboard Palm -
Zamia furfuracea, a species native to Veracruz state of
eastern Mexico. Most of us are familiar with this species
of Zamia. It is an attractive plant with thick, very stiff
leaflets, hence the name cardboard, but is not as cold
Hardy as the Coontie. That said I have gone winters
without it dying back to the ground, but if it dies back it
will send leaves up again when the weather warms.
Unfortunately, specimen plants in the ground rarely
attain any significant size due to periodic freeze backs.
