"encephalartos whitelockii" is a large, spectacular, evergreen, arborescent cycad up to 4 metre tall. each stem is topped with a crown of long, stiff, dark green, glossy fronds which curve gently backwards. the fronds are composed by falcate, well-spaced, dentate leaflets that curve towards the frond apex and carry more than 3 teeth on each margin. the teeth on the lower margin are also well-spaced rather than crowded to the base. the bluish-green cones with smooth scale apices, the sessile seed cones and the long-stalked, often pendulous pollen cones are also distinctive. the reproductive organs take the form of cones, similar in appearance to those of a conifer, with the male and female cones being borne on separate plants. male plants of "e. whitelockii" produce up to five, pendulous, bluish-green cones per stem, while female plants produce up to three, bluish-green egg-shaped cones. "e. whitelockii" is a long-lived, slow growing plant that always occur as individual male or female plants. there is no way of determining the sex of a cycad until it begins to produce its first cone.