Answered in other thread

I have not seen this other thread, but to answer your question, yes it is possible, but not terribly common. We are still hoping an Encephalartos woodii will change into a female someday… but so far, no one has seen it happen (yet). I have not heard of a Cycas revoluta changing sexes, but would not be surprised to learn that it happens now and then, particularly since there are a gazillion of these around the world… don't suppose you have a photo of the previous cones? That 'flower' by the way is a cone, too…. not unusual for cones to have leaves (though usually stunted versions) grow out of their centers, though why that happens I have no idea.

About 12 years ago there were at least 22 documented cases of cycad sex reversal. It usually happened after a stressful event like a fire, freeze, and just a rough transplant. After two of my cycads changed sex by accident I just had to try an experiment. I can go into great detail if anyone wants to hear all that, but the bottom line was, I was able to change 20% of the male plants into females and 20% of the females into males. I told Roy Osbourne of my experiment and the next year he had a mass accidental change, where he was planting 6 male Cycas taitungensis plants at an airport and all of them turned into females. 8 years ago he wrote a paper saying that cycads are not genetically male or female, but call it sex expression. Basically, when a cycad is stressed in many possible ways, it produces a hormone, and if it happens at the right time, sex reversal.

It doesn't happen often, but I get an email or a phone call about twice a year from someone who knows nothing about cycads, and swear their sago changed the kind if cone it had.

Earlier this year I found what looked like a long dried pine cone which had wrapped itself about 1/3 way around one of my two sago palms. I had not noticed it when it was growing. When I found it, it had already dried. I pulled on it and it freely snapped off of the tree. Now I just found what looks like a round ball growing at the top of both of my sago palms. From this thread I assume it changed sexes.