PASSIONATE ABOUT CYCADS
Rockview Trading is a Nelspruit based company which is passionate about preserving the cycad, and, by cultivating cycad seedlings legally, saving the species from total extinction. The cycad is a fossil plant which has been with us for perhaps 100 million years and it has barely evolved in the meantime. Researches reckon dinosaurs used to feed on cycads (although the seeds are poisonous for human consumption).
South Africa has about 40 Cycad species, some of them which have become totally extinct in the wild, and all of them endangered. Cycads, because of their value, have been ripped out of their natural habitats for years to become collectors items to certain botanists. Needless to say, a lot of the plants did not survive, and some species can't be found in the wild at all anymore.
The reason why cycads don't easily reproduce in the wild, is because these plants have very specialised pollinators. They are male and female plants, but as so many of them were removed, there are hardly any female plants left. Botanists have managed to grow cycads from the seeds of older plants, but even these seedlings are male. Without nurseries growing new cycads, the plant is doomed to become a museum piece.
The government had to take legal measures against removing the cycad from the wild, so if you want to own a cycad, you need to have a permit for it. Rockview Trading is a fully certified cycad farm, and issues a certificate with each cycad purchased from their company. We are enthusiastic about cycads, and will ensure that you will not only value for money, plus we wil advise you on the ideal conditions to plant and grow your cycad in.
Help us preserve this beautiful plant – buy cycads legally so we can keep the species alive.
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