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Stumpy trunks, fans of palmate leaves and some lethal ingredients in the
seeds are the cyclads’ distinguishing marks. But Knut Norstog and Trevor
Nicholls’ The Biology of the Cycads have found far more to tell us about this
ancient species, which dominated the world for more than 230 million years until
flowering plants came along. Some have endured unchanged since the Mesozooic.
Published by Comstock/Cornell University Press, £13.95, ISBN 080143033X.