Elephant Foot Palm, Beaucarnea recurvata, The Living Desert

The elephant foot palm is actually not closely related to the true palms (Arecaceae), but more related to yuccas and century plants. It is a succulent tree in Asparagaceae, native to Southeastern Mexico. It also goes by the names elephant's foot and ponytail palm.

The elephant's foot palm is an evergreen perennial growing up to 9 meters, but it will take a long time to get there as it is a slow grower like most desert trees. The 2 meter height maximum listed on Wikipedia as of this date is just wrong when you compare it to the specimen in this video, or other online sources. It has an expanded caudex, the "elephant's foot," which serves it well for water storage. As you may have deduced, it is a very drought tolerant tree that grows in dry climes and full sun. It can't survive temperatures below 6 Celsius for long. It lives in scrub and semi-desert areas. As a houseplant, elephant foot palm is vulnerable to overwatering.