This extremely xeric species is native to the desert regions of Puebla and Oaxaca states in southern Mexico. Like the ever-popular “bottle palm”, Beaucarnea recurvata, it can form a massive caudiciform base, but this is often more irregular in shape and is covered with more fissured, corky bark. The base tapers abruptly to slender branches topped by yucca-like rosettes of slender, erect, glaucous leaves. The species is dioecious with separate male and female plants. We offer charming seedlings showing a rotund little caudex, HBG 134196, from seed collected just S of Tehuacan, Puebla, Mexico. $10.
Published in the Cactus and Succulent Journal, Vol. 91 (2), Summer 2019