Cycads /ˈsaɪkædz/ are seed plants typically characterized by a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard and stiff, evergreen leaves. They usually have pinnate leaves. The individual plants are either all male or all female (dioecious). Cycads vary in size from having a trunk that is only a few centimeters tall to trunks up to several meters tall. They typically grow very slowly and live very long, with some specimens known to be as much as 1,000 years old. Because of their superficial resemblance, they are sometimes confused with and mistaken for palms or ferns, but are only distantly related to either.

Cycads are found across much of the subtropical and tropical parts of the world. They are found in South and Central America (where the greatest diversity occurs), Mexico, the Antilles, southeastern United States, Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Japan, China, Southeast Asia, India, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, and southern and tropical Africa, where at least 65 species occur. Some can survive in harsh semidesert climates (xerophytic), others in wet rain forest conditions, and some in both.^{[citation needed]} Some can grow in sand or even on rock, some in oxygen-poor swampy bog-like soils rich in organic material, and some in both.^{[citation needed]} Some are able to grow in full sun, some in full shade, and some in both.^{[citation needed]} Some are salt tolerant (halophytes).