Family: – Liliaceae
Habitat: – Native to Mexico
Cultivation: – These plants are very adaptable: they can live in full sun but they grow at their best in half shade. Dasylirion needs regular watering, in contrast to other dry weather adapted plants.
Curiosity: – The name ‘Dasylirion’ refers to his little and short trunk, covered by narrow bladed leaves: indeed, the name comes from the Greek dasỳs = leaf-covered and lỳrion = little lyre.

– KEY FEATURES

The plants from the genus dasylirion are evergreen succulents, appreciated for their ornamental value and their adaptability to dry weather. The foliage radiates symmetrically in a rosette. Growing, the base of the leaves become part of the trunk itself; at this point, the plant looks similar to a palm.

In open ground, these plants can reach up to 15 mt tall; the cultivation in pot leads to shorter plants. Dasylirion plants bloom in spring and summer: the usually white flowers are gathered together by panicle inflorescences, and they are the only characteristic that separates the female plant from the male plant.

TIPS FOR GROWING

• We recommend half shade exposure, but full sun is well tolerated, too.
• During winter, the plant can resist few degress below zero for short period of time, as long as the soil is dry.
• Even if Dasylirion is a drought tolerant plant, it grows faster with waterings: during spring and summer it is necessary to water the plant every 2-3 days, the soil should be damp all the time. It must be provide during winter, too (but less often).
• Dasylirion are slow growing plants that don’t require specific fertilisers: an universal fertilizer dissolved in water every 2-3 months will be enough.
• Dasylirion need very fast draining soils.
• These slow growing plant don’t need frequent repotting, every 2-3 years will be enough for the plant to grow healthy (the full development takes from 10 to 20 years).

The Dasylirion Multiplication is usually by seeds (and since it is a dioecious, not all the seeds are fertile) that have to be sown in a pot and put in a cold greenhouse. The reproduction by suckers is possible too, but it is rarer.