PONYTAIL PALM (Beaucarnea recurvata)

Beaucarnea recurvata, known as the Ponytail Palm, is a palm-like succulent that is native to Mexico.

The plant grows with a greatly expanded base and a single trunk with a rosette of long, straplike leaves that arch and droop. With age, the trunk eventually develops a few branches. Ponytail can get up to 8 metres) tall and the base up to 3.5 metres across, but houseplants generally remain less than 1.8-2.4 metres tall.

The leaves are thin and flat, up to 1.8 metres long and only 2.5cm wide. They are clustered in dense tufts at the ends of the branches and arch upward, then droop downward. The plant looks a little like a palm, and a little like a big onion sitting on the ground with a single stalk growing up and sporting a parasol of drooping, straplike leaves.

Flowers are produced only on large specimens. They are creamy white and inconspicuous individually but borne in large showy upright clusters that extend above the leaves.

Prefers full sun and is drought tolerant. Mature plants can tolerate temperatures down to -7ºC. Makes a great container or pot plant.