Zamia integrifolia, also known as coontie, is a small, tough, woody cycad native to the southeastern United States (in Florida and formerly in Georgia), the Bahamas, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Puerto Rico.

Over time, it forms a multi-branched cluster, with a large, tuberous root system, which is actually an extension of the above-ground stems.

[8] Indigenous tribes of Florida like the Seminoles and Tequestas would grind the root and soak it overnight; afterwards, they would rinse it with running water for several hours to remove the rest of the water-soluble toxin cycasin.

By the late 1880s, several mills in the Miami area started to produce Florida arrowroot until their demise after the World War 1.

[11] The whole plant, except for the sarcotesta, the pulpy covering of the seeds, is very toxic,[12] containing a toxin called cycasin which can cause liver failure that can lead to death, but if proper precautions are taken it can be leached with water due to it being a water-soluble molecule.

Two names, Florida arrowroot and wild sago, refer to the former commercial use of this species as the source of an edible starch.

[16] In the late 19th century, Zamia plants in the Bahamas were known as "bay rush", and were harvested on Andros and New Providence islands to produce starch.

[17] Z. integrifolia has also been found on the north-central coast of Cuba, in the Cayman Islands, and in south-central Puerto Rico.

[19][20] The type specimen of Z. integrifolia was a cultivated plant from East Florida, described by William Aiton at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Studies conducted by Ward showed that five different Florida populations of Z. integrifolia with identical cultivation produced distinct leaf morphology, suggesting that there may be too much genetic diversity amongst these Floridian Z. integrifolia, not to mention geographically isolated populations, to consider them a single species.

[34] Z. lucayana, which has sometimes been listed as a synonym of Z. integrifolia, is regarded as a valid species, restricted to Long Island in the Bahamas.

The larvae are gregarious and all life stages are aposematic, displaying coloration advertising the presence of poison.

[38] Since Z. integrifolia is a cycad, which are the only group of gymnosperms that form nitrogen-fixing associations, it depends on microbes as a source of nitrogen.

[39] The filamentous cyanobacteria belonging to the genus Nostoc, which is able to form symbiosis with a wide range of organisms,[40] inhabits the mucilage in the microaerobic and dark intercellular zone in between the inner and outer cortex of coralloid roots.

[37] The multiple cones of Z. integrifolia may develop through three methods: sympodium, forking of the bundle system, and adventitious buds.

The most common form of development is the rapid formation of cone domes on the plant's sympodium, which is its main axis.

The forking of the bundle system starts near the base of a terminal cone, which remains erect, of the sympodial development in certain branches.