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Bowenia
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Bowenia spectabilis
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Bowenia spectabilis
Bowenia spectabilis

Bowenia

plant genus
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History

Bowenia, genus of two species of palmlike cycads in the family Stangeriaceae, endemic to Queensland, Australia. Both the Byfield fern (Bowenia serrulata) and B. spectabilis are sometimes cultivated as ornamentals in greenhouses and outdoors in warmer climates. Two extinct species, B. eocenica and B. papillosa, known from fossilized leaflet fragments from Victoria and New South Wales respectively, date to the Eocene Epoch (56 to 33.9 million years ago).

Bowenia species are tuberous in form and feature a large subterranean stem about 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 inches) long. The evergreen leaves are bipinnately compound. As gymnosperms, the plants produce their seeds in cones, which are borne basally from the underground stem.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Melissa Petruzzello.