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Fine Dictionary

zamia

WordNet
  1. (n) zamia
    any of various cycads of the genus Zamia; among the smallest and most verdant cycads
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
  1. Zamia
    (Bot) A genus of cycadaceous plants, having the appearance of low palms, but with exogenous wood. See Coontie, and Illust. of Strobile.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
  1. (n) zamia
    A genus of gymnospermous plants, of the order Cycadaceæ, type of the tribe Zamieæ. It is characterized by a naked trunk partly or wholly above the soil, pinnate leaves, and naked truncate strobile-scales, both the male and female cones being oblong and cylindrical and their scales similar. There are about 30 species, natives of tropical and subtropical North America. They produce a simple, lobed or branching caudex, sometimes a low trunk, often covered with scars. The stems increase in height by the yearly development, of a crown of stiff fern-like leaves with firm rigid segments which are entire or serrate, parallel-nerved, and jointed at the broad base. Z. integrifolia (Z. pumila), with a short globular or oblong, chiefly subterranean stem, occurs in low grounds in southern Florida, and is the only cycad found within the United States; it yields a starch known as Florida arrowroot; the plant is called coontie (which see). Z. furfuracea and the preceding are known as wild sago in Jamaica. From these and other dwarf species an excellent arrowroot is made in the Bahamas and elsewhere in the West Indies. Many species cultivated under glass as zamia are now classed as Encephalartos, and Z. spiralis as Macrozamia.
  2. (n) zamia
    [l. c] A plant of this genus.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
  1. (n) Zamia
    zā′mi-a a genus of palm-like trees or low shrubs of the order Cycadaceæ—some species yield an edible starchy pith.
Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary L. zamia, a kind of fir cone, from Gr. , , hurt, damage. See Plin. xvi. 44

Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary L. zamia, a dead fir-cone—Gr. zēmia, damage.

Usage in literature

ZAMIAS grew here, and were numerous higher up the valley. "Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia" by Thomas Mitchell

Here he named the minor waters of the Planet and the Comet, and Zamia Creek. "The Explorers of Australia and their Life-work" by Ernest Favenc

The other starch, from the Western Australian Zamia, in quality rivalled arrowroot. "The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom" by P. L. Simmonds

FIND SOME EDIBLE ZAMIA NUTS. "Journals Of Two Expeditions Of Discovery In North-West And Western Australia, Vol. 2 (of 2)" by George Grey