Cycas pruinosa is a small to medium species of cycad, a seed plant. It is a widespread but sporadic species in the eastern and southern Kimberley region of Western Australia, occurring also in the Spirit Hills on Bullo River Station in the Northern Territory. This strikingly distinctive and widespread species was only first recognised in 1978 by Australian botanist John Maconochie. The specific name, pruinosa, means "covered with powder" and aptly describes the blue-white ovules of this plant.