Cycads are a group of seed plants characterized by a large crown of compound leaves and mostly having a stout trunk, they are evergreen plants having large pinnately compound leaves and are frequently confused with and mistaken for palms or ferns, but are related to neither, belonging to the division Cycadophyta.

Today cycads are found in the subtropical and tropical parts of South and Central America (where the greatest diversity occurs), Mexico, the Antilles, south-eastern United States of America, Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Japan, China, Southeast Asia, India, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, and southern and tropical Africa. Diversity hotspots occur in Australia, South Africa, Mexico, China and Vietnam, which together account for more than 70% of the world’s cycad species.

Cycads are long-lived with infrequent reproduction, and most populations are small, putting them at risk of extinction from habitat destruction and environmental events. Regionally, Australian cycads are the least at risk as they are locally common and habitat fragmentation is low, however land management with fire is thought to be a threat to Australian species.

Cycads are gymnosperms belonging to the same plant division as conifers, the most significant difference between them and the vastly more numerous Angiosperms (flowering plants) is the use of cones and not flowers in reproduction.