Lepidozamia peroffskyana History:Lepidozamia peroffskyana, described in 1857, was named after Count Peroffsky, a Russian nobleman and benefactor of the St Petersburg Botanic Garden, where the type plant was cultivated. Distribution Range:L. peroffskyana is a large cycad that is endemic to Eastern Australia and which grows on the north coast of New South Wales and in south-eastern Queensland. It has a distribution range that stretches over approximately 700 kms of coastal and near coastal areas and which extends from near Taree on the mid-north coast of New South Wales to near Gympie, north of Brisbane, in Queensland.
Habitat Conditions: L. peroffskyana is the tallest growing cycad in New South Wales. It normally grows in large dense stands - often in abundance, with adult plants growing so prolifically that the fronds of numerous plants actually overlap each other. It grows in abundance at altitudes of up to 700 metres near Dorrigo, which is the wettest town in New South Wales, with an annual average rainfall of approximately 2,000 mms (80 inches). Forest areas near Dorrigo are heavily infested with leeches, ticks and mosquitos.
L. peroffskyana generally grows under a eucalypt canopy in habitat conditions ranging from stabilised sand dunes and sand hills near the ocean to steep slopes on mountain ranges adjoining the sometimes narrow coastal belt. On the mountain ranges it grows in areas of wet sclerophyll forest bordering on rain forest, while closer to the ocean it can be found growing in depauperate littoral rainforest or open scrubby forest.