Encephalartos paucidentatus Stapf & Burtt Davy

Plant unbranched or occasionally branched from base, stems up to about 6 m tall, 40-70 cm diam. with brown wool on crown. Leaves 1-2 m long including petiole 20-40 cm long; rhachis usually fairly straight or slightly recurved, sometimes slightly twisted, pubescent at first, glabrescent with age except woolly pulvinus; leaflets widely spaced towards base, a few becoming smaller, lobate and prickle-like, those towards apex becoming narrower and closer together but only sometimes overlapping; median leaflets narrowly lanceolate, straight or somewhat falcate, 15-25 cm long, 2-3.2 cm broad, rarely more, with up to about 30 conspicuous raised veins on lower surface, shortly pubescent, glabrescent on upper surface and more slowly so on under surface, with or without 1-3 prickles on one or both margins usually towards base. Cones probably 2-3 together on short stout peduncles, golden-yellow. Male cones up to about 60 cm long, 15 cm broad; median scales narrowly oblong-ovate to oblong-lanceolate, 4-5 cm long, 2-2.5 cm broad, with sharp lateral ridges; bulla projected into a decurved beak up to about 1.5-2 cm long, upper and lower facets humped towards base, terminal facet slightly more than 1 cm broad and slightly narrower vertically with irregularly toothed or crenate margin. Female cones (complete cone not seen); median scales 5-6 cm broad and about 3-5 cm thick vertically with lateral ridges extending into incurved lateral winged lobes about 2 cm long; bulla face protruding about 3 cm, with upper and lower facets rounded and conspicuously rugose, apical facet pubescent, concave, about 1.5-2 cm broad and about the same width vertically, with crenate margin. Seed red, up to about 4 cm long and 2.5 cm diam., with fleshy beak.

It is a subtropical plant.

The pith of the stem is edible and contains good quality starch.