Etymology: Honoring the indigenous people of the region of occurrence. Historical notes: Named in 1998 by American botanists Jeff Chemnick and Timothy Gregory and Mexican biologist Silvia Salas-Morales. Distinguishing features: Large cones on elongated peduncles, medium-width leaflets. Distribution and habitat: A narrow endemic in Oaxaca state, Mexico, in mixed evergreen and deciduous cloud forests in the Sierra Mixes. Conservation status: Endangered. Not listed by the 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. Description:
Plants acaulescent; stem 34-125 cm long, stem 14-18 cm diam; persistent leaf bases light, appressed. Leaves 15-33 in crown. New growth emerging mid-green. Leaves dark green, 146-198 cm long, flat (not keeled) in section, with 49-77 leaflets; vernation straight; rachis not or slightly spirally twisted; petiole 45-85 cm long, armed with prickles. Leaflets not clustered, linear, symmetric, broadest below middle, not falcate, weakly discolorous, thick or leathery; margins incurved; median leaflets 24-39 cm long, 21-29 mm wide. Pollen cones yellow-green, narrowly ovoid-cylindrical, 22-24 cm long, 7-7.5 cm diam.; peduncle 13.5-15 cm long; microsporophyll lamina 7-8 mm long, 14-15 mm wide. Seed cones yellow-green, ovoid-cylindrical, 23-31 cm long, 12-15 cm diam.; peduncle 12.5-23 cm long; megasporophyll 24-28 mm long, with an expanded peltate apex 42-50 mm wide, with two horns 5 mm long. Seeds ovoid, 25-32 mm long, 18-20 mm wide.
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