This is the ultra-rare "Giant Cupidus", among the hardest-to-find rare Encephalartos in the eugene maraisii complex. Identified either as a variant of E. cupidus or E. nubimontanus, this plant has a unique and distinctive look.
De Klerk, in his book
Encephalartos nubimontanus - a distinction between 11 variants, describes the plant we have as "Giant Fine Cupidus", which has green-blue leaves which are straight, with a backwards arch at the apex, and having thin and moderately long and narrow spined leaflets. To us, this plant appears as an E. cupidus "on steroids", with every dimension at least 1 3/4 to 2 times the size of E. cupidus.
