{"id":24399,"date":"2024-06-22T06:25:46","date_gmt":"2024-06-22T00:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=24399"},"modified":"2025-04-07T09:16:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T03:46:13","slug":"encephalartos-woodii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/encephalartos-woodii\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Encephalartos Woodii?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>About Encephalartos woodii<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a <strong>plant from South Africa<\/strong> and is a member of the <strong>cycad family<\/strong> with thick trunks and large stiff leaves that form a majestic crown.\n<ul>\n<li>Cycads are the <strong>oldest surviving plant<\/strong> groups alive today and are often referred to as \u201c<strong>living fossils\u201d or \u201cdinosaur plants<\/strong>\u201d due to their evolutionary history dating back to the Carboniferous period, approximately 300 million years ago.<\/li>\n<li>During the <strong>Mesozoic era<\/strong> (250-66 million years ago), also known as the Age of Cycads, these <strong>plants were ubiquitous<\/strong>, thriving in the warm, humid climates that characterised the period.<\/li>\n<li>Although they resemble ferns or palms, <strong>cycads are not related<\/strong> to either. Cycads are <strong>gymnosperms,<\/strong> a group that includes conifers and ginkgos. Unlike flowering plants (angiosperms), <strong>cycads reproduce using cones<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It is impossible to tell male and female apart until they mature and produce their magnificent cones.<\/li>\n<li>Female cones are typically wide and round, and male cones appear elongated and narrower.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>male cones produce pollen,<\/strong> which is carried by insects (weevils) to the female cones. This ancient method of reproduction has remained largely unchanged for millions of years.<\/li>\n<li>Despite their longevity, today cycads are ranked as the <strong>most endangered living organisms<\/strong> on Earth with the majority of the species considered threatened with extinction.<\/li>\n<li>This is because of their <strong>slow growth and reproductive cycles<\/strong>, typically taking ten to 20 years to mature, and habitat loss due to deforestation, grazing and over-collection.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Threats:<\/strong> Their striking appearance and ancient lineage make them popular in exotic ornamental horticulture and that has <strong>led to illegal trade.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1: What is Gymnosperm?<\/h3>\n<p>These are any vascular plant that reproduces by means of an exposed seed.The seeds of many gymnosperms (literally, \u201cnaked seeds\u201d) are borne in cones and are not visible until maturity.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/science\/scientists-search-for-a-female-partner-for-worlds-loneliest-plant\/article68316419.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Scientists search for a female partner for world\u2019s \u2018loneliest\u2019 plant<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Encephalartos woodii is a plant from South Africa and is a member of the cycad family with thick trunks and large stiff leaves that form a majestic crown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":24400,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-24399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}