Ponytail palm is Beaucarnea recurvata. Labels may still say Nolina recurvata. Elephant foot, elephant's foot tree, and bottle palm are the same plant. Same URL. Iowa's care FAQ uses ponytail palm or elephant-foot tree. It is not a true palm.
Wisconsin Horticulture calls it a succulent with a swollen caudex. Iowa's FAQ says the same. Iowa's houseplant table still lists it under foliage, method: offsets only. This page is not a succulents named-list add.
Stem cuttings are not a way to make a second plant on these sheets. Wisconsin: if you cut a small plant (less than 6 inches diameter) it can branch into a three-headed specimen. NYBG: topping a too-tall stem in spring puts new growth just below the cut in several weeks. That renovates the same plant.
For a drained mix, see soil propagation.
Seed
Wisconsin: this plant is propagated only by seed. Sow in spring with a minimum temperature of 68 °F. The seed should germinate readily with no special treatment. Seed is not commonly available. Plants are dioecious. Only large trees flower, so a houseplant rarely sets seed.
RHS: seed sown at 18 to 21 °C in spring. Do not merge that range with Wisconsin's 68 °F minimum.
UF/IFAS ST093: propagation is by seed, which usually must be imported from Mexico.
UAEX: grown from seed, germinates readily, no special treatment. Seedlings can make two-foot stems with grapefruit-size bases in a couple of years.
NYBG: seed is reliable. It can be difficult to source. Growth is slow.
No opened extension gives days-to-germinate. Do not add a soak time from a shop page.
Offsets
Iowa's propagating table marks ponytail palm for offsets or plantlets only. Iowa's easy-houseplants page: propagated by offsets at the base. RHS: root offsets in spring.
NYBG: potting up offsets is possible but has a variable success rate. Spring. Wait until the offset is 6 inches tall. Let the cut callous for several days. Brush the bottom third of the stem with rooting hormone. Gritty mix. Water only very lightly until roots form. No week count.
Wisconsin: what look like small offsets on the caudex can be cut off flush with the trunk. They will not root to produce new plants.
UF/IFAS and UAEX name seed and do not mention offsets.
Those are not one recipe. Do not average "will not root" with Iowa, RHS, and NYBG. Do not swap NYBG's 6 inches and several days of callus for a shop's 4 to 5 inch pup or a 24-hour dry-down.
NMSU's 2003 Q&A repeats spring offsets and hormone. The writer said they had never done it. Not a how-to here.
Common mistakes
- A second URL for elephant foot.
- Adding this plant to a succulents named list. Iowa's table keeps it under foliage.
- Treating a topped trunk as a cutting that becomes a second plant. Wisconsin's cut under 6 inches diameter makes extra heads on the same caudex.
- Writing "easy offsets" as settled. Wisconsin says they will not root.
- Averaging Wisconsin's 68 °F seed minimum with RHS 18 to 21 °C.
Same URL for ponytail palm and elephant foot. Beaucarnea recurvata.
People also ask
Is it a palm?
No. Iowa: not a true palm. Same family notes vary (Asparagaceae on NCSU, UF, NYBG, RHS; Iowa groups it with snake plant and dragon tree). The swollen base is a caudex.
Can I root a stem cutting in water?
No opened extension names water or a stem cutting as a way to clone ponytail palm.
How long until it roots?
No opened extension gives weeks for seed or for offsets. NYBG only: several days to callous, then light watering until roots form.