any of a class (Cycadatae) of gymnospermous tropical shrubs and trees resembling thick-stemmed palms, with crowns of leathery, fernlike leaves and large cones containing fleshy seeds
See cycad in American Heritage Dictionary 4
cy·cad
noun
Any of various palmlike gymnospermous cone-bearing evergreen plants of the division Cycadophyta, native to warm regions and having large pinnately compound leaves.
Origin: New Latin Cycas, Cycad-, genus name, from Greek kukas, erroneous reading of koïkas, accusative pl. of koïx, a kind of palm tree, perhaps of Egyptian origin.