Cycad vs. Zamia — What's the Difference?

For the insect, see Cicada.Cycads are seed plants with a very long fossil history that were formerly more abundant and more diverse than they are today. They typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard and stiff, evergreen leaves.

Zamia is a genus of cycad of the family Zamiaceae, native to North America from the United States (in Georgia and Florida) throughout the West Indies, Central America, and South America as far south as Bolivia.

Any of various gymnospermous cone-bearing evergreen plants of the division Cycadophyta, native to warm regions and having large pinnately compound leaves.

Any of various chiefly tropical American cycads of the genus Zamia, having a thick, usually underground stem, palmlike terminal leaves, and seeds borne in woody cones.

(botany) Any plant of the division Cycadophyta, having a stout and woody trunk with a crown of large, hard and stiff, evergreen leaves.

Any of various cycads of the genera Zamia and Macrozamia

Any plant of the natural order Cycadaceæ, as the sago palm, etc.

A genus of cycadaceous plants, having the appearance of low palms, but with exogenous wood. See Coontie, and Illust. of Strobile.

Any tropical gymnosperm of the order Cycadales; having unbranched stems with a crown of fernlike leaves

Any of various cycads of the genus Zamia; among the smallest and most verdant cycads