You might be enjoying the sight of a new exotic plant from the comfort of your Outback reclining chairs, in just a few years’ time.
A Japanese species has produced both male and female cones this summer on the Isle of Wight, and experts say it’s the first time in 60 million years this has occurred.
Ventnor Botanic Garden is home to a pair of cycads (Cycas revoluta), which are located outdoors in a sheltered spot on the undercliff. The two plants have grown male and female cones, astonishing botanists the world over.
Usually, the species is found only indoors as a house plant in Britain, but this year the plants in Ventnor have produced a female as well as a male cone, and it’s thought to be the first ever grown outdoors on the British Isles.
The plant is an ancient species – a type of primitive tree that flourished during the days of dinosaurs. Some cycad fossils were previously found in rock strata on the Jurassic coast, which runs between the Isle of Wight and Dorset.
Seven years ago, a plant at Ventnor produced a male cone, but for the first time the presence of a female cone means botanists can pollinate the species in the hope of producing more.
Ventnor Botanic Gardens’ curator Chris Kidd hinted that climate change could be the reason for this phenomenon. Kidd added that Ventnor’s undercliff is seen as “a predictor for the wider British landscape in 20 to 30 years’ time”.
