Botanists, puzzled by claims that cycad cones may be getting harvested for medicinal purposes, have warned that the plant is deadly poisonous.
Botanists, puzzled by claims that cycad cones may be getting harvested for medicinal purposes, have warned that the plant is deadly poisonous.
Grahamstown resident Peter Kota, concerned by an incident he witnessed in the city centre, told Grocott's Mail what he'd seen.
Kota was sitting in his car, near the corner of Bathurst and High streets, he said, when he saw a man in a car guard's vest push a refuse bin up against a cycad tree.
Climbing on top of the bin, he jumped up, hitting one of its cones to the ground.
The car guard immediately hid the cycad cone under his shirt, Kota said.
"He looked around, and then ran across the road to a shop where an old lady was waiting."
Kota, mindful of the fact that cycads are a protected species, got out of his car to confront the car guard.
"I saw the car guard talking to an old woman, and then I saw him exchange the cone for money."
Seeing Kota approach, and the deal complete, the car-guard fled.
Kota challenged the woman, he said, only to be told by her that this was a ‘big prize’, which she had been asking around for.
She had obtained the cycad cone for medicinal purposes, she claimed.
However, experts warn that parts of the plant can be extremely dangerous.
Tony Dold, Curator of the Selmar Schonland Herbarium at the Albany Museum, said he hadn’t heard of thefts of cones and would be very surprised if the cones were found to provide any medicinal benefit.
He said the plant had powerful neurotoxic properties.
Professor Roy Lubke, Associate Professor Emeritus in the Rhodes University Botany Department and an associate of EOH Coastal and Environmental Services, also expressed scepticism about any possible medicinal value.
Quintus Hahndiek, sub manager of Environmental Affairs for the Eastern Cape, told Grocott's Mail that Environmental Affairs were aware of the illegal use of cycad seeds and bark for assumed unspecified medicinal properties.
He warned that according to South African legislation, large fines are payable for the damaging and/or defacing of a cycad plant in any way.
Kota said that since witnessing the incident, he had become aware of a visible decrease in the number of cycad cones found in other areas of Grahamstown.
Cycads have changed little since the end of the Jurassic Period. Considered living monuments, many cycads live to be hundreds of years old. Ranking in South Africa’s ‘big five’ of the plant kingdom, cycads are heavily protected by legislation.
Biodiversity Act No. 10 of 2004 states that it is considered illegal to remove, transport, damage, or destroy any wild cycad plants.
Permits are also required to move or remove cycads from private property.
