E. horridus is perhaps the best known of all blue South African cycads. Horridus is responsible for turning me into a cycadaholic. Of all the blues, horridus is hands down the most popular plant. Horridus is extra mysterious and unique because there is several different forms of this plant. Many have still yet to be scientifically classified. Different varieties that I am aware of include: typical form, statlerville forms, dwarf horridus from Port Elizabeth and possibly more. Horridus is quite an easy cycad to grow as long as it receives ample light, heat, and is planted in a well drained nutrient rich soil mixture. Horridus is quite tough and is frost hardy. If given to much water in a poor soil loom it may be susceptible to rot and other problems. Horridus is readily available as many growers and collector's have mature specimens which provide fellow enthusiast with fresh seed and offsets. Horridus was discovered in 1801 in the Uitenhage district in the East Cape and was originally described as Zamia horrida. Horridus usually has a aerial erect stem that usually forms clusters of offsets. A large mature plant is quite a sight to see. The caudex can reach over three feet in height and up to 300mm in width. The leaves are extremely blue, sometimes almost white. Old leaves tend to loose their luster and often may not look blue at all since the blue derived from this plant is just powder. Horridus is very variable with its leaf forms, many plants have different degrees of curvature within the leaf. Male cones tend to be brownish red and with age tend to loose color and get lighter. Female cones tend to be more green with less brown pigment. The closest relatives to E. horridus are E. trispinosus and blue arenarius. Limited supply
