Why Plants Die
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Cardboard Cycad

Zamia furfuracea, Zamiaceae

Sources last read 13 September 2026.

Not yet rated How forgiving it is has not been judged here yet.

Also called Cardboard Palm, Cardboard Plant, Cardboard Sago, Cycad, Jamaican Sago and Mexican Cycad.

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Cardboard Cycad is toxic

  • Toxic to cats. Toxic principle: Cycasin, B-methylamino-l-alanine, unidentified neurotoxin (cattle). Clinical signs: Vomiting (may be bloody), dark stools, jaundice, increased thirst, bloody diarrhea, bruising, liver failure, death. 1-2 seeds can be fatal. ASPCA
  • Toxic to dogs. Toxic principle: Cycasin, B-methylamino-l-alanine, unidentified neurotoxin (cattle). Clinical signs: Vomiting (may be bloody), dark stools, jaundice, increased thirst, bloody diarrhea, bruising, liver failure, death. 1-2 seeds can be fatal. ASPCA
  • Toxic to people. Toxic to people (medium severity). NC State Extension

What the sources say about its care

Light
Full sun, Partial Shade
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Water
Good Drainage, Moist
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Humidity

No source read publishes a humidity figure for any plant on this site. What follows is general guidance for foliage plants.

ASHRAE recommends indoor relative humidity between 30% and 60% 30–60%
Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Soil
Loam (Silt), Sand
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to cats
Toxic
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to dogs
Toxic
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Harmful to people
Toxic to people (medium severity)
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026

Routine care

Watering
Let the soil dry between waterings, and grow it in a pot that has several drainage holes.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Propagation
By division or seed.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026

Move something and watch

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About the plant

Zamia furfuracea is a species of cycad endemic to southeastern Veracruz state in eastern Mexico.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · read 13 September 2026

Native range
Mexico (Veracruz)
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Mexico
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Climate
wet tropical
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Growth form
subshrub
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Shrub; habit clumping, multi-trunked, rounded
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Size
Height 24–60 in; width 60–102 in
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Flowering
As a gymnosperm it has no true flowers. Female plants carry a rusty-brown cone at their centre; male plants bear clusters of smaller cones, while the female cones are egg-shaped.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026

Plants with similar care

Sources

What this does not cover

The figures above are what published sources say, not measurements of the plant in your room. They say nothing about your pot size, your water, the season, or how far from the glass the plant stands, and those decide more than any figure here does.

Humidity has no species figure because no source read for this site publishes one, and the only temperature published for this plant is a cold floor. The simulator fills those gaps with general figures for its kind of plant, marked as general and listed on how we read sources. Where a toxicity row says the plant was not assessed, that is the absence of a finding and not a finding of safety.

If something is already wrong, the diagnosis tool asks about the soil, the window and the watering, which is where the answer usually is.