The coontie plant is a Florida native cycad. (Cycads are known as living fossils since they can be traced back 280 million years.) The coontie attracts a rare butterfly called the atala. Plants are either male or female and produce a certain type of cone based on the sex of the plant. Male cones are thinner and shorter than female cones. Female cones are around 6 inches tall and are covered in fuzz.
Calusa and Timucuan Indians of Florida made a flour from the underground stem (or caudex) of the coontie. Their methods for preparing the flour were adopted by the Seminoles and eventually early settlers of southern Florida in the 19th century. The starch produced became known as “Florida Arrowroot.”
A toxic substance called cycasin is present in the skin of the caudex, so the method used to remove the toxin involved maceration (soaking in water to loosen the skin) and washing. Cycasin is a central nervous system toxin. According to the USDA,
“To make flour, the roots are first chopped into pieces. They are then pounded with a mortar and pestle. The pulp is then washed with water and the starch is allowed to settle to the bottom. Then the water is drained and the remaining paste is left to ferment for several days. At the end of the fermentation process, the starch is set in the sun to dry. When dry, the powdery, cornmeal-like flour is then baked into bread. ”
The atala butterfly uses coontie as its larval host plant. The atala utilizes the cycasin toxin it absorbs through consuming the coontie plant as a defense mechanism against predators, mainly birds. This is very similar to the monarch butterfly and its milkweed host plant. The atala’s range however is confined to the south eastern coast of Florida. There is also a small range around Tampa Bay.
Typically, the coontie plant grows to about 1 to 3 feet high, but some in the Ocala National Forest have been measured as much as 4 to 5 feet tall. It grows well in hammocks and pinelands.