Tree of the Week: A palm with a ponytail and a canteen

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The ponytail palm -- Nolina (Beaucarnea) recurvata

Delightful and unexpected, a mature ponytail palm looks like it was drawn by Dr. Seuss. Its caudex, or swollen base, is a big onion-like bulb up to 12 feet across, but it might take a lifetime to get to that size. The bulb stores water and allows this bizarre succulent to go dry for long periods of time. The squat, occasionally branched, bare trunk or trunks curve upward in curious lines, while tufts of up to 6 feet long but only 1-inch wide, arching and drooping leaves are clustered together in sloppy umbrellas. Stalks of creamy white flowers jut out above the leaves at odd angles.

Strictly speaking, this evergreen perennial member of the Agave family does not produce the wood that makes it qualify as a tree, and it is also not a palm. It does attain tree-like size if you wait a very long time, for it is a very slow grower. It may be planted in ground outside or kept for decades as an indoor or outdoor potted plant. Should you forget to water a well-watered one for a month or so, either in the container or in the ground, no big deal: it will probably live happily ever after. In fact, it is easier to over-water this plant than to underwater. No two plants are alike and it makes a most unusual gift.

The ponytail palm may grow to 12 to 15 feet tall (up to 30 feet if of great age, but if in a container more likely 6 to 8 feet) and 10 to 12 feet wide. Thick trunk and gray bark resemble the leg and skin of an elephant; the caudex has the same skin, but will become many feet across. Tough, strap-like leaves are carried in one or more rosettes; on the commonly sold variety intermedia, the leaves are 3 feet long. Flower stalks hang on for a long time; eventually seeds develop, but only on female plants since they are dioecious (‘two houses,’ meaning separate male and female plants). The ponytail palm needs full sun or light shade, will take many types of soil but prefers the lighter ones; it cannot live with standing water, tolerates light frost and is rather pest-free (the few that may occur when kept as a houseplant are easily taken care of).

Several Nolina species populate the southwestern U.S., but the N. recurvata is a native of the Southeastern Mexican desert. The botanical name honors C.P. Nolin, an 18th-century French horticulturalist. Common names include bottle palm and elephant-foot tree. The genus used to be known as Beaucarnea, but under international nomenclature rules the oldest given scientific name prevails.

-- Peter Severynen

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