Elephant's-foot

Also known as Ponytail Palm, Bottle Palm, Elephant-foot Tree

Thriving on sheer, dry limestone cliffs and tropical deciduous forests of eastern Mexico, this xerophytic evergreen stores immense reserves of water inside its swollen, cork-barked caudex. Dense crowns of recurved, strap-like leaves cascade like hair from the upper stems, channeling scarce rainfall directly down toward the root zone. While ubiquitous as a cultivated houseplant around the world, wild populations face near-extinction from habitat loss and intensive illegal harvesting.