Rotary Club Hoedspruit along with local cycad enthusiast and owner of Amafu Forest Lodge, Steve Trollip undertook a very exciting re-establishment programme of the indigenous cycad, Encephalartos laevifolius on Saturday, October 13.
This Encephalartos laevifolius cycad plant became extinct in its habitat in April 2005 when the last clump of 11 stems was removed by poachers. Originally there were 17 clumps which constituted about 60 stems, some stems being five metres tall and approximately 5000 years old.
Read: Hoedspruit and I: Steve Trollip
“Various persons and organisations were blamed for the demise of this incredible rare plant, but ultimately the blame must go to the cycad collector and his insatiable desire to collect and own the rarest of the rare and this is what E. laevifolius was,” mused Rotarian, Steve Trollip who has dedicated years to re-establishing this beautiful ancient cycad.
“I started collecting pollen from male plants and pollinating cones on female plants in about 2005. Seeds were planted and in 13 years I have managed to grow about 300 plants of this species. Some of the first plants have started coning and we are now able to re-establish this species very close to where it originally occurred (within 1 km),” says Trollip.
The Rotary Club of Hoedspruit undertook the re-establishment programme at Amafu Forest Lodge with Steve supervising the project. This was done under the Rotary banner of ‘Preserve Planet Earth’.
Rose White, Rotary Hoedspruit, Past President said: “ I am really happy to be part of changing the environment back to its former glory especially as these plants are going to be planted in a protected area which will restrict the ability for them to get stolen”
Read: Cycad saga finally has a happy ending
Thirteen seedlings were planted to augment an already existing population of about 200 plants.
“I think we have pulled E.laevifolius back from the brink of extinction,” Wilna Mew, Rotary Hoedspruit President confidently noted at the end of the exhausting but fascinating exercise. Wilmawas leading the Rotary team which included Wilna Mew, Rose White, Steve Trollip, Monica Golightly, David Bertram and David Fitzhugh
