Etymology:
From the Greek eurys, broad, phyllon, leaf, with the
diminutive idion, referring to the extraordinarily broad leaflets
Historical notes: Described as recently as 1986 from a small stand of plants discovered only a few years earlier in southern Veracruz. Distinguishing features: Readily distinguished by the larger and broader leaflets than in any other Ceratozamia. Leaflets are also very thin and papery, undulating along the margins and distinctly oblique. Distribution and habitat: Sporadic and localised, in Veracruz and Oaxaca, Mexico. An understorey shrub growing naturally in heavy shade in tropical wet evergreen forest. Conservation status: Critically endangered. 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants category E. Description:
Plants acaulescent; stem 20 cm long, stem 10 cm diam. Leaves 5-10 in crown. New growth emerging light green or bluish. Leaves dark green or blue green, dull, 200-320 cm long, flat (not keeled) in section, with 12-26 leaflets; vernation straight; rachis not or slightly spirally twisted; petiole 60-90 cm long, armed with prickles. Leaflets not clustered, ovate, asymmetric, broadest above middle, not falcate, weakly discolorous, thin or membranous; margins flat; median leaflets 18-31 cm long, 90-160 mm wide. Cataphylls 50 mm long. Pollen cones green, fusiform-cylindrical, 28 cm long, 3 cm diam.; peduncle 6-8 cm long; microsporophyll lamina 7-10 mm long, 15-20 mm wide, with two horns 1-2 mm long. Seed cones brown, ovoid-cylindrical, 20 cm long, 5 cm diam.; peduncle 12 cm long; megasporophyll 15-30 mm long, with an expanded peltate apex 15-20 mm wide. Seeds ovoid, 23-27 mm long, 20 mm wide; sarcotesta white, aging to
brown.
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