Ponytail tree (Bonsi)? and Darmera peltata #8

Ponytail tree (Bonsi)?

Does the ponytail tree produce any type of flowers. I bought one at Walmart and am wondering if it does get flowers


inflorescence best answer:

Answer by Dean M.
These plants are able to produce flowers, but they rarely do indoors. For them to produce flowers, the plant needs to be quite large, and this can usually only be achieved on plants grown outdoors in the ground.

This website has photos of a mature tree, and the inflorescence: http://desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Agavaceae/Beaucarnea_recurvata.html

Another photo of the plant in bloom with a person in the foregound to give you an idea of the plant's size: http://growsonyou.com.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/photo/image/49374/main/Misc_plant_pics_237.jpg

About the smallest plant I've ever seen with flowers was between 3-4 feet tall, and was grown in a container outdoors in full sun in the tropics, although you could probably get these to bloom in temperate climates in a greenhouse if you used supplemental lighting to increase the day length in the winter.

inflorescence

Darmera peltata #8


Best viewed @ large size

Saxifragaceae - S.W. Oregon and N.W. California
Formerly Peltiphyllum peltatum
Indian Rhubarb, Umbrella Plant
Shown: Detail of branched inflorescence displaying buds and fully opened flowers

"Darmera peltata (Indian rhubarb or, ambiguously, "umbrella plant") is the only species within the genus Darmera in the family Saxifragaceae. It is a slowly-spreading rhizomatous perennial from mountain streamsides in woodland in the western United States (southwestern Oregon to northwestern California).

"In late spring the flowers emerge before the leaves, with rounded cymes of numerous five-petalled white to bright pink flowers (measuring up to 1.5cm across each) borne on flower stems up to 2m long. The leaves are peltate, rounded, deeply lobed, coarsely-toothed, conspicuously veined and dark green, also on stems up to 2m in height. The leaves turn red in autumn.

"In gardens, Darmera peltata flourishes in pond margins and bog gardens, where it forms an imposing umbrella-like clump. It is suited to smaller gardens where there is no room for Gunnera manicata or Gunnera tinctoria, unrelated plants that are somewhat similar in appearance, but much larger." (Wikipedia)

Mature leaves to 60 cm across

Additional views:
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Photographed in San Francisco Botanical Garden - San Francisco, California

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