bild

Cycad fruit. Close-up of the developing fruit of the cycad (Lepidozamia peroffskyana). Cycads are a primitive family of plants which have remained virtually unchanged for over 300 million years. They are slow-growing fern-like trees which produce these large fruits bearing the seeds. The fruits of this species may weigh as much as 40 kilograms when fully mature. Cycads are now rare in nature, and only inhabit tropical and sub- tropical areas. They are considered to be the most primitive of the gymnosperms (seed-bearing plants). Photographed in Melbourne Botanic Gardens, Australia. (KEYSTONE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/DR JEREMY BURGESS)