REPORT FROM THE ROAD - BREAD PALMS IN DOWNTOWN ST. PETE - OCTOBER 12, 2019: This afternoon, after visiting a bunch of places and then hiking the trails at Maximo Park in St. Pete for the very first time, I snapped a bunch of photos at the Kopsick Palm Arboretum in downtown St. Pete. This palm collection has been getting better and better over the past few years. Any locals wishing to get a free tour from me at this free park should feel free to contact me and set up a time. I live one and a half hours away from St. Pete, but I like visiting often as it is one of the hipper cities in the state. I snapped a decent number of photos of some of the gorgeous fruiting bodies of some Bread Palms, Encephalartos genus, that grow there. The word "artos" mean bread, as some yield an edible starch found within the upper trunk. Know that they contain toxins and must be properly prepared. Many are endangered in the wild and most, if not all, are native to Africa. The main threats include gathering plants from the wild for collectors and land habitat destruction due to housing developments. Please refrain from referring to any of these as "Kaffir Bread" as this is often used as a derogatory term for these amazing plants. Thanks. 
PHOTO: Encephalartos manikensis, GORONGO CYCAD, native to Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Rated as "vulnerable." The estimated number of mature individuals in the wild is at 10,000 +/- and is "decreasing."
Some other Encephalartos species that I snapped photos of included: 
2 - Encephalartos ferox, ZULULAND CYCAD, native to Mozambique and South Africa. Rated as "near threatened." The estimated number of mature individuals in the wild is at 100,000 +/- and is "decreasing."
3 - Male cones of Encephalartos hildebrandtii, MOMBASA CYCAD, native to Kenya and Tanzania. Rated as "near threatened." The estimated number of mature individuals in the wild is 10,000 to 20,000 and is "decreasing." "The lower part of the trunk is peeled and chopped or sliced. The slices are either left in a heap or soaked in water for a week to ferment, then dried in the sun and pounded and sieved into flour. The flour is used to make uji or uga" in Tanzania. "Use of seeds as famine food in northern Kenya has in the past been shown to lead to a high incidence of liver cancer in the Boni people."
4 - Female cones of Encephalartos hildebrandtii, MOMBASA CYCAD.
5 - Encephalartos gratus, MULANJE CYCAD, native to the Malanje Mountains of Malawi and Mozambique. Rated as "vulnerable." The estimated number of mature individuals in the wild is at 20,000 +/- and is "decreasing."