The Madagascar Sago, or Cycas thouarsii, named after the French botanist Louis du Petti-Thouars and first identified in 1829, is believed to be around 140 million years old and may be one of the oldest living species of cycad.
A robust, lush plant with numerous, relatively soft, dark green leaflets. Unlike many of its cycas cousins that tend to have a sharp leaflet apex, the leaflets are pleasantly soft and feathery. In California you can expect these cycads to eventually develop trunk up to 8 to 10 feet tall with a 5 to 9 foot crown of leaves in maturity. Overall, this is one of the more exotic, plush and more interesting of the cycas famility of cycads.
Madagascar Sagos are fast growing in their native habitat, with trunk diameters of 12-18 inches and reaching heights of 30 feet. At the grove in Riverside they grow faster and more fully than most other cycads, with the possible exception of the Cycas taiwaniana.
