Dioon edule "Queretaro" blue form - - Dioon castagna | Dioon cicadea

The Dioon edule "Querétaro" form is one of the most coveted blue-leaved expressions of the Dioon edule complex (family Zamiaceae), originating in the state of Querétaro at an altitude of about 1230 m (4000 ft). Its great appeal lies in the intense blue-gray colour of the emerging leaves, a glaucous, waxy bloom that lends each new flush a cool, almost metallic sheen prized by collectors worldwide. It should be noted that this glaucous coating is most vivid on freshly emerged foliage and gradually weathers away with age — a natural trait of the form rather than a defect — so that the plant is at its most spectacular with each new flush of leaves.

This is a medium-sized form, with stems reaching a maximum height of about 1.2 m (3.9 ft). The leaves are flat, slightly twisted and gently incurved, 0.7–1 m (2.3–3.3 ft) long and 200–225 mm (8–9 in) wide, carried in a symmetrical, feather-like rosette. The leaflets are 100–125 mm (4–5 in) long and 6–7 mm (0.3 in) wide, crowded and sometimes twisted, with strongly revolute margins that give the foliage its characteristic firm, sculptural texture. As in every member of the complex, the leaflet margins are entirely spineless at maturity — a key diagnostic of Dioon edule — with marginal spines restricted to seedling and juvenile foliage. Slow-growing and exceptionally long-lived, it develops into a striking architectural specimen over many years.

• Emerging leaves an intense, glaucous blue-gray with a waxy bloom — the form's hallmark
• Medium-sized stems to about 1.2 m, bearing a symmetrical, feather-like crown
• Crowded leaflets with strongly revolute margins and a firm, sculptural texture
• Spineless leaflet margins, diagnostic of the Dioon edule complex
• Endemic to the highlands of Querétaro (~1230 m)
• Slow-growing, hardy and long-lived Mexican cycad

The reproductive structures are robust and handsome. Female cones are densely gray-brown tomentose, about 225 mm (9 in) long and 175 mm (7 in) in diameter, their sporophylls ending in short, blunt apexes; the subglobose seed has a sclerotesta of 20–25 mm enclosed in a bright-yellow sarcotesta. Male cones are about 190 mm (7.5 in) long and 70 mm (2.8 in) in diameter, lightly tan-tomentose and sometimes glabrous toward the apex. As a living representative of one of the most archaic surviving seed-plant lineages — the genus whose epithet edule recalls the traditional, carefully detoxified use of its starchy seeds — the "Querétaro" blue form unites rare ornamental colour with the resilience and longevity that define the Dioon edule lineage.

IMPORTANT: The pictures show the mother plant, which is not for sale. The offer includes a plant with the dimensions stated in the description.