Encephalartos transvenosus is a palm-like cycad in the family Zamiaceae, with a localized distribution in Limpopo, South Africa. Its common names, Modjadji('s) cycad or Modjadji's palm, allude to the female dynasty of the Lobedu people, the Rain Queens, whose hereditary name is Modjadji.
The Modjadji Cycad Reserve is set in the foothills of blue-green mountains above the village of Modjadji, near Tzaneen. The Modjadji Cycad Reserve is home to the biggest concentration of the rare endemic cycad, Encephalartos transvenosus, in the world.
On the other hand, most cycads are very rare, and two-thirds are officially listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. A few species are so rare that they are now designated as “extinct in the wild”; this means that they are only known from plants growing in botanic gardens and collections
The Modjadji, or Rain Queen, is the hereditary queen of Balobedu, a people of the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The succession to the position of Rain Queen is matrilineal, so her younger daughter is the heir, and males are not entitled to inherit the throne at all. The Balobedu originally migrated south from present day Zimbabwe to their present location in South Africa. The central tribal village is Khethakoni in the district of Balobedu.