Beaucarnea recurvata variegata – Plant

Description

Also known as the “Pony Tail Palm” or “Bottle Palm” (though it is not a true palm) Beaucarnea recurvatawas introduced into cultivation from Mexico about 1845. It is a dioecious, evergreen, succulent tree up to 9 m tall (but rarely more than 1,20 to 2,50 indoors) with a very noticeable swollen base that tapers up to a slender trunk that ends in a head of green and recurving foliage. It is a slow-growing very peculiar species often seen as a houseplant, that people either love or hate.
Variegated form (f. variegata): The plants are identical in shape to the standard species but have leaves striped with cream along the border. There are a few slightly different variegated clones.
Stem: Juvenile plants are single-stemmed with a bulbous base that start thickening at an early seedling stage, forming soon a neat, firm, rounded caudex and the small plants are pulled underground by contractile roots. Mature specimens produces a stout caudex up to 3,60(-4) meters in diameter, most of which is above ground, with one or more branched trunks. The caudex can store water up to 1 year.
Leaves: Strap-like, grass-like, thin, flat narrow, dark green and margined with cream coloured edges, 90-200 cm long and 1-2,5 cm wide that form clumps at the ends of the branches and droop down. The cascading nature of the leaves gives much the appearance of a pony’s tail (hence the common name).
Inflorescence: Large, pyramidal shaped panicles 75-110 cm tall at the branch tips.
Flower: Greenish-white to yellowish-crème coloured with six tepals, but very small and inconspicuous individually (1.5 mm diameter), but on the whole quite showy in the clusters that extend above the leaves;
Blooming season: Flowers occasionally once plants mature (often when it’s 20 years old or more) and then in late spring or summer for several weeks. The tree will occasionally flower
two or even three times a year.
Fruit: reddish winged fruit with 2-3 seeds.