The stems have a broad, starch-rich cortex, and may be subterranean or aerial in different species. Leaves are pubescent when young. Male sporophylls carry numerous sporangia on the under- or abaxial surface, and sporangia open by slits to shed pollen. Pollen is weakly ornamented, cymbiform, monosulcate, and bilaterally symmetrical.
Male gametophytes are large, multiflagellate and motile.
Endosperm is haploid, derived from the female gametophyte. The embryo is straight, with 2 cotyledons which are usually united at the tips, and germination is cryptocotular. Cycad roots are heteromorphic, with contractile and coralloid roots in addition to normally functioning roots. These serve to draw the sensitive growing apex of seedlings below the soil surface, affording protection from the drought and fires that are a frequent feature of many cycad habitats. Coralloid roots are highly modified roots, with apogeotropic growth and extensive dichotomous branching, with the branches shortened, thickened, and modified to internally accomodate symbiotic cyanobacteria.