Coontie from Cedar Key area

Tom Broome, Former cycad society president, Florida Nursery owner and Coontie conservation activist sent me this picture of a Cedar Key Coontie in its true form. This is an old growth plant and is free from some of the cross pollination going on in that area right now. He will be publishing an article on this plant and others he found in "The Cycad Newsletter" that is published by "The Cycad Society" on a quarterly basis. I highly recomend joining this great orginization. They are dedicated to the preservation on all cycads in habitat. That includes the Coontie. For more information check out their web site at http://www.cycad.org/ . Mr. Broome has several varieties of the Florida Coontie. Most of my varients were optained from his nursery in Florida. He can ship to most states and I believe he can get the paper work to ship to other countries. You can contact Tom at his web site http://cycadjungle.8m.com/ . The photo credit and copyright belong to Tom Broome all rights reserved.

Seeking male cones of Coontie v Crystal River

I have six female cones that will need pollen. I am looking for male cones from coontie v Crystal River only. I am not interested in cross pollinating with another Varient of Coontie. Please contact me if you have a male Coontie v Crystal River and it currently has at least one cone. Any lead on a male would be greatly appreciated.

George aka the Coontie-nut

Here is the picture I promised of the seedlings grown from the Coontie v Homestead that were collected in habitat for my last spring. The seedcoats were removed by mother nature and they were soaked 24 hours and then planted 1/2 down in sand and sprouted in two months. They have continued to sprout through out the summer.

The mother plant of my seedlings

About a year ago I put a plea out to all the Florida gardeners at Dave's Garden web site for help in aquiring wild collected, site specific seeds of Coontie variants. I recieved som seeds from a kind lady who picked them off the ground around this plant in Homestead Florida. I now have a nice pot of healthy seedlings groing from these seeds and the lady was kind enough to e-mail me this photo of the "Mother plant". What a beauty. Large clump of Coontie v Homestead of unknown age. I will post pictures of the seedling tomorrow.

George aka Coontie-Nut

Coning coontie variants

I have several coonties coning right now including some important variants. The first three are all different cones on a large clump of Coontie v Crystal River. The bottom two are Coontie v Fanning Springs. I have two Fanning Springs and hope that I have both a male and female plant in order to propigate this wonderful variant on Conntie.

The rarest coontie in my collection

These are some pictures of me repotting my Coontie v Georgia. There are no known native Georgia coonties in the wild at this time but I am sure they are still out there. Mine were grown from seeds collected in the wild. If you live in the Florida / Georgia border area you could have a great impact on the Coontie conservation movement by finding some in the wild. I can be reached at geggleston@satx.rr.com . I am buying wild collected seeds or plants if the location they came from is known. I also purchase pictures of plants in the wild if the area is known. They can be old or new. I also trade different coontie variations. I am trying to document all the different variations of the Coontie and conserve them if possible. In Florida these wonderful plants are not even protected. They have not been properly studied and perhaps classified. The florida Coontie is most likely at least two seperate species of Zamia and not just the one as they are currently classified. We need time to study, learn and properly catagorize these plants. In order to do that they must first be conserved and protected. That is at least my opinion,

the Coontie-Nut

Looking for native Coontie seeds

If you don't know what a coontie is please check out this link!

http://cycadjungle.8m.com/cycadjungle/The%20Coontie%20of%20Florida.html

I am trying to collect different variations of the Florida Coontie. I am interested in plants that were either wild collected or grown from seeds harvested in the wild. Futhermore I will need to know the location that the plant came from. I have collected several different variations already. I keep them in seperate pots and in seperate areas so as to keep the strain pure to its individual variation. I am attempting to collect and document as many different Variations as I can before the plants are completely destroyed in the wild and the remaining plants are crossed to find the most comercialy successful hybrid. I appreciate any and all help you can give. Thanks George in San Antonio member Cycad Societyadd one P.S. Coonties are also found in Souther Georgia and I would love to know of plant colonies in that area also