(no-lie' nah ree-cur-vaa' tah)

Common name: Pony-tail Palm

Family: Nolinaceae, Nolina (formerly in the Agave family)

Height x width: 12-25' x 6-12' outdoors, 1-3' x 1-2' indoors

Growth rate: moderate

Foliage: unbranched, palm-like stems with expanded and flaring base; leaves 2-6' long are recurved, channeled and sometimes twisted

Flowers: tiny, creamy white in 3' panicles, seldom in cultivation and on very mature plants

Light: full sun, adaptable to moderate to low

Temperature: warm, cool when inactive

Watering: dry between waterings, less when inactive

Fertility: low

Humidity: low

Soil: well-drained

Pests and Problems: stem rots, bacterial soft rot and leaf streak, mealybugs, spider mites, scales

Growth habit, uses: interior beds, pots

Other interest: not a palm, and until recently and still in some references listed under Nolina, however this has an inflated, three-angled fruit and Beaucarnea has a non-inflated, three-winged fruit; flowers and fruit seldom seen in cultivation as plants must be quite large to produce them; native to Mexico; named after P.C. Nolin, an 18th century French agriculturist

Other culture: leaves benefit from periodic washing

Propagation: seeds

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