Plant in light shade to part day sun and irrigate regularly. Hardy to around 20 ° F. In its natural habitat this interesting plant is often solitary but in cultivation can form a clump that eventually forms a solid bush-like plant.

Ceratozamia hildae is a oak woodland forest plant from the states of Queretaro and San Luis Potosí, Mexico. The name for the genus comes from the combination of the Greek word 'cera' meaning "horn" and Zamia, the name of another cycad genus. The specific epithet honors Hilda Guerra, the daughter of Luciano E. Guerra of Mission, Texas, who was responsible for the first commercial importation of this cycad from Mexico in 1960. Unfortunately, overcollection of this species in the 1960s and 1970s, with many thousands of plants dug from the wild and transported north for sales in the US, led to it being endangered in the wild. The common name Bamboo Cycad is in reference to this plant's perceived resemblance to bamboo with clumps of upright leaves bearing fasciculated leaflets.

On a trip to Mexico in 2010 with cycad expert Jeff Chemnick we were fortunate to see this plant growing in habitat near the town of Aquismón in San Luis Potosí. We have in our collection male and female specimens acquired in 2005 with the plant collection of succulent plant collector Alice Waidhofer. Our plants in the nursery sold between 2008 and 2012 were grown from seed purchased from SeedCo. 

The information about Ceratozamia hildae that is displayed on this web page is based on research conducted in our nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We will also include observations made about this plant as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens that we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We also incorporate comments that we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they share cultural information that aids others growing this plant.