Krulwich laments the fate of the last E. woodii, a cycad tree currently residing in London:
Researchers have wandered the Ngoya forest and other woods of Africa, looking for an E.
woodii that could pair with the one in London. They haven't found a single other specimen. They're still searching. Unless a female exists somewhere, E. woodii will never mate with one of its own. It can be cloned. It can have the occasional fling with a closely related species. Hybrid cycads are sold at plant stores, but those plants aren't the real deal. The tree that sits in London can't produce a true offspring. It sits there, the last in its long line, waiting for a companion that may no longer exist.
(Image: An 1857 illustration of Encephalartos woodii from the Library of Congress)
The Dish 