Name: Ponytail tree, ponytail palm, elephant foot tree.Botanical name: Beaucarnia recurvata.
Description: An unusually shaped plant that is not a palm (nor an elephant) and hardly suits our idea of a tree. Its base is a fat, water-storing trunk called a caudex that tapers to a slender pole topped with a rosette of stiff green leaves.
You sometimes see the babies sold in two- or three-inch containers as house plants, at which stage they are quaintly appealing. It takes many years for them to grow large, and during the process they are rather lumpish inhabitants of the garden. Then, one day in summer, an inflorescence begins to surge up from the top and a big panicle of cream-colored flowers appears.
The ponytail hails from Mexico, where it grows in seasonally dry conditions, so the water-holding base is a life-saving adaptation. The bark is cracked into rivulets. The brown, old leaves (whose sharp edges can cut) can be gathered, trimmed and turned upside down in a vase for a dried arrangement. This plant was once in the lily family, but has been moved to the Ruscaceae, which also houses the dracaena group.
Height: 15 feet.
Light: Full sun.
You sometimes see the babies sold in two- or three-inch containers as house plants, at which stage they are quaintly appealing. It takes many years for them to grow large, and during the process they are rather lumpish inhabitants of the garden. Then, one day in summer, an inflorescence begins to surge up from the top and a big panicle of cream-colored flowers appears.
The ponytail hails from Mexico, where it grows in seasonally dry conditions, so the water-holding base is a life-saving adaptation. The bark is cracked into rivulets. The brown, old leaves (whose sharp edges can cut) can be gathered, trimmed and turned upside down in a vase for a dried arrangement. This plant was once in the lily family, but has been moved to the Ruscaceae, which also houses the dracaena group.
Height: 15 feet.
Light: Full sun.
Culture: The ponytail's seasonally dry homeland provides a clue: excellent drainage. It does wonderfully well in our seasonally dry winters and rainy summers. Use a slow-release fertilizer a couple of times a year. A rock mulch is better than an organic one.
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com
No comments:
Post a Comment