Cycads: Prehistoric Plants Threatened in the 21st Century

With Dr. Nathalie Nagalingum, Curator of Botany, California Academy of Sciences.

Cost: $15 or $12 for members of CalAcademy. Admission includes lecture and wine reception. Register Now!

Cycads are a group of bristly, palm-like plants that are prized in collections worldwide. Some species, like the sago palm, are commonly kept in yards throughout the Bay Area. Once thought to be “living fossils” and relics from the time of the dinosaurs, the over 300 species of cycads left on Earth today arose only 12 million years ago—recent in evolutionary terms, and long after the dinosaurs became extinct. Cycads are considered the most endangered organism on Earth (even more than corals or any species in the Animal Kingdom) and are threatened by poaching and land conversion across their native range of Australia, Africa, Asia, Central America, and Mexico.

Dr. Nathalie Nagalingum, Curator of Botany at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, applies cutting-edge techniques to map the species evolution and diversity of these ancient plants. She is pioneering cycad conservation by working with herbaria and botanic gardens around the world to ensure efforts are focused on the species most threatened in the wild.

See what it’s like when botanists travel the globe to study plants, and learn more about what can be done to prevent the disappearance of this distinctive cycad group.

Co-sponsored by the California Academy of Sciences.

Register Now!