COONTIE
The female version of the plant.
The male version of the plant.
By LYNN ARTZ and SANDY TEDDER
Coontie (Zamia integrifolia) is a low-growing evergreen that can be a specimen plant or used in foundation or massed plantings. Also called Florida arrowroot, it grows slowly to 3 feet tall, prefers sandy soil in sun to part shade, and is salt tolerant. Often called palms, coonties unfurl like ferns and are Florida’s only cycad, an ancient group of plants. This is the kind of plant that lived in the age of dinosaurs. Coonties bear no true flowers. The rusty brown cones on the males provide winter interest. The female cones have red-orange seeds. (See photos) Coontie leaves are used in floral arrangements. Further south, coontie is the sole larval host for the rare Atala butterfly. Coonties surround the palm in the northeast garden at Sopchoppy Depot Park.