Beaucarnea recurvata Seeds | Ponytail Palm

Swollen corky caudex and arching fine leaves of a potted ponytail palm — Ponytail Palm (*Beaucarnea recurvata*): Asparagaceae, dry limestone slopes of eastern Mexico.

LATIN NAME: Beaucarnea recurvata

COMMON NAME: Ponytail Palm, Elephant’s Foot

Plant Profile

Ponytail palm is not a palm, and the sooner a grower accepts that the easier the plant becomes. It belongs in Asparagaceae, alongside Nolina and Cordyline, and the resemblance to a palm is convergence, not kinship: a thick trunk, a crown of strap leaves, and no wood in the dicot sense. The trunk base swells into a caudex that stores water and starch, and in old plants it can be a metre across, wrinkled like an elephant’s ankle and often cracked. From the top comes a fountain of long, narrow, finely toothed leaves that arch outward and then droop, so the whole crown looks combed. Wild plants in eastern Mexico reach four to eight metres, usually on dry limestone slopes in Tamaulipas, Veracruz and San Luis Potosi. Indoors it stays small for years, which is part of why it has been a houseplant for a century and a half.

Science & Biotechnology

Beaucarnea recurvata is a CAM plant, fixing carbon at night through the same crassulacean pathway as cacti and agaves, which is how it keeps its stomata shut through the hottest part of the day. The caudex stores water in parenchyma with little fibre, and the plant can lose a large share of that water and recover. The species is dioecious: male and female flowers sit on separate plants, in large panicles that rise above the crown, and a garden plant therefore sets no seed unless a partner is nearby and a pollinator finds both. That is why seed in trade comes almost entirely from wild collection, and why the whole genus was placed on CITES Appendix II in 2017. Seed is small, light and three-winged, dispersed by wind across open ground, and it germinates quickly when rain follows.

Uses & Benefits

For most growers this is a container plant, and a forgiving one: it tolerates months of neglect, low light and dry indoor air better than almost anything with a trunk. The swollen base is the point, and old specimens become sculpture. In frost-free climates it is planted out as a specimen in dry gardens, where it takes full sun and reflected heat without complaint. In Mexico the leaves have been used for rough thatch and the young inflorescences cooked as a vegetable in hard years, but neither is a significant trade. It has no medicinal record that stands up. The commercial pressure is entirely horticultural, and it is severe: large wild plants are dug for the international market, which is the reason for the CITES listing.

Growing from Seed

Sow on the surface of a gritty mix, barely cover, and keep at 22 to 28 degrees. Germination takes three to six weeks, and the first leaf is a single blade rather than a fan. Water from below until the seedling is established, and keep the base of the stem dry, because the caudex rots where water sits against it. Use a very free-draining compost with a third coarse grit or pumice, and a pot only slightly larger than the root ball. Bright light is essential; without it the leaves stretch and the base stays thin. The swelling begins in the second or third year and is slow. Water thoroughly and then let the mix dry almost completely, and in winter give almost nothing at all.

Our Take

Almost unkillable indoors, and genuinely sculptural once the caudex swells. Buy seed rather than wild plants, and give it grit, sun and neglect.

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