Beaucarnea recurvata Lem.
Ponytail palm, elephant’s foot palm, bottle palm
The ponytail palm is not a true palm, though it is easy to understand why it is often mistaken for one. It is native to South Africa and central and southeastern Mexico.
Plants: Reaches 20–33′ (6–10 m) in height, with a trunk 8–16″ (20–40 cm) in diameter. Its caudex, a swelling at the base of the plant, stores water, and is the reason for the name “elephant’s foot palm.”
Leaves: Evergreen, linear, strap-shaped, 1½–6′ ⨉ ½–⅞″ (50–180 ⨉ 1.5–2.5 cm), with finely serrated edges. The caudex can be as large as 9½′ (3 m) in diameter.
Flowers: Only older trees (more than ten years old) produce flowers, which appear on large showy panicles 2½–3½′ (75–110 cm) long. The panicles are large, but the flowers are tiny, 1/32″ (1.5 mm) in diameter. They are greenish-white, with six tepals.
Fruits: Capsules about ⅜″ (1.2 cm) long.
Habitats: In deciduous forests, in rocky soils deficient in nutrients, cliffs and steep mountains, at elevations below 1.1 mi (1.7 km).
Edibility: Poisonous 
I found this listed in the US Food and
Drug Administration’s Poisonous Plant Database, though I was not able to find details about it.
Online References:
8/31/2013 · Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond, Virginia 
4/10/2015 · Naples Botanical Garden, Naples, Florida 
4/6/2011 · Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory & Botanic Gardens, Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, Maryland · ≈ 1½ × 1′ (45 × 33 cm) 
4/6/2011 · Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory & Botanic Gardens, Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, Maryland 
8/31/2013 · Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond, Virginia 
4/6/2011 · Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory & Botanic Gardens, Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, Maryland 
4/10/2015 · Naples Botanical Garden, Naples, Florida 
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms |
| Class | Liliopsida | Monocots (plants with a single seed leaf); includes the lily family |
| Subclass | Liliidae | Includes lilies, orchids, and many others |
| Order | Asparagales | A diverse group that includes asparagus |
| Family | Asparagaceae | Agaves, asparagus, hyacinths, and others |
| Genus | Beaucarnea | For 19th century Belgian collector of succulents Jean-Baptiste Beaucarne |
| Species | recurvata | Curved backwards |
Beaucarnea recurvata description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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