Cycas brunnea is a species of cycad

Cycad

Cycads are seed plants typically characterized by a stout and woody trunk with a crown of large, hard and stiff, evergreen leaves. They usually have pinnate leaves. The individual plants are either all male or all female . Cycads vary in size from having a trunk that is only a few centimeters...

 in the genus Cycas

Cycas

Cycas is the type genus and the only genus currently recognised in the cycad family Cycadaceae. About 95 species are currently accepted. The best-known species is Cycas revoluta, widely cultivated under the name "Sago Palm" or "King Sago Palm" due to its palm-like appearance although it is not a...

, native to northern Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 in northwest Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 and northeast Northern Territory

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...

 in a small area straddling the border of the two regions. It occurs on exposed sites in savanna and creek valleys on sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 and limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 derived soils, with moderate seasonal rainfall.

The stems grow to 2–5 m tall, with numerous leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 in the crown. The leaves are 1.2-1.7 m long, glabrous with age, pinnate, with 160-240 leaflets, the leaflets 17–27 cm long and 6-7.5 mm wide. The petiole

Petiole (botany)

In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...

s are covered in brown tomentum and armed with sharp spines.

The female cones

Strobilus

A strobilus is a structure present on many land plant species consisting of sporangia-bearing structures densely aggregated along a stem. Strobili are often called cones, but many botanists restrict the use of the term cone to the woody seed strobili of conifers...

 are open, with sporophyll

Sporophyll

A sporophyll is a leaf that bears sporangia. Both microphylls and megaphylls can be sporophylls. In heterosporous plants, sporophylls bear either megasporangia , or microsporangia...

s 28–32 cm long. Orange tomentose covering cone, with serrations along margins of the lamina

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

. The sarcotesta

Sarcotesta

The sarcotesta is the outermost fleshy covering of Cycad seeds. Below this layer is usually the sclerotesta, the coating that makes direct contact with the cycad seed. In some species, however, there is an intermediate layer that is thought to be used in water retention and storage....

 is orange and glaucous, the sclerotesta

Sclerotesta

Sclerotesta is the innermost fleshy coating of cycad seeds, usually located directly below the Sarcotesta....

 ovoid and flattened. The male cones are solitary and long ovoid, 21 cm long and 13 cm diameter, brown tomentose, and with an upturned apical spine.

It was first described in 1992, and is similar in appearance to Cycas angulata

Cycas angulata

Cycas angulata is a species of cycad in the genus Cycas, native to Australia in northeast Northern Territory and northwest Queensland ....

. It is considered near-threatened due to its restricted range, though it occurs in some protected areas including Boodjamulla National Park

Boodjamulla National Park

Boodjamulla National Park, formerly known as Lawn Hill National Park, is a national park in the Gulf Country region of northwestern Queensland, Australia. The park is northwest of Mount Isa or northwest of Brisbane....

. It is named after the Greek word brunneus (brown), as the emergent leaves are brown tomentose

Tomentose

Tomentose is a term used to describe plant hairs that are flattened and matted, forming a woolly coating known as tomentum. Often the hairs are silver or gray-colored...

.