ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on the uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Cycad Nut. Japanese use the young leaves as a potherb, and the cycad meal as a food extender and for the preparation of sake, the sake called doku sake, or poisonous sake. In the Ryukyu Islands, the poisonous habu viper nests in the top of this cycad. Seeds used as astringent, emmenagogue, expectorant, and tonic, used for rheumatism. "The products extracted from the seeds are useful to inhibit growth of malignant tumors." Seeds may yield 20.44% fat, the component fatty acids of which are palmitic-, stearic-, oleic-, and a small amount of behenic-acid. For sago starch, the trunks should be felled before fruiting. Since the felling of the trunk precludes fruiting, it follows that seeds are harvested from older trees.
