Dasylirion cedrosanum - Sotol

The Dasylirion cedrosanum is a very beautiful species of dasylirion, both vigorous and particularly bright. It is a trendy and graphic plant, relatively hardy in well-drained soil, decorative all year round, which requires little care, but makes a sensation in a mineral decor or on a contemporary terrace. This species cedrosanum is characterised by its vigour, and its large, linear and arched leaves, particularly light, ranging from bluish glaucous to white-glaucous, with spiny margins. This plant, resembling a large sea urchin planted on a short trunk, blooms after many years, in the form of a tall flowering stem adorned with small yellow to cream flowers. Dasylirion can be grown in the ground as well as in a pot. It is an excellent rockery or dry garden plant to grow in poor, rocky or sandy soil.

Originally from the Mexican highlands of the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Sierra Madre Oriental in Mexico, the Dasylirion cedrosanum is capable of withstanding temperatures around -12/-15°C (10.4/5 °F) in well-drained soils, if it is somewhat sheltered from rain, and it tolerates long periods of summer drought. In nature, it is usually found on rocky slopes in limestone soil.

It is a rhizomatous plant belonging to the Agave family, slow-growing in dry soil, faster in moist soil. When young, the dasylirion forms a dense, shaggy ball. After many years, it can form a partially underground trunk about 1m (3 ft 4 in) tall, sometimes branching, covered with remnants of old leaves, brownish in colour, forming a kind of skirt. They can be cut to highlight the trunk. This trunk often ends up lying down, without stopping growing. It bears a spherical crown 1m (3 ft 4 in) to 1.30m (4 ft 4 in) wide, composed of several hundred succulent, radiating, linear leaves, 2.5 cm (1 in) wide, gutter-shaped, bordered by yellowish to brownish spines. The leaves are slightly twisted on their axis. Flowering occurs after 10 to 15 years of cultivation, in summer. A slender, upright floral stem emerges from the centre of the rosette at 2m (6 ft 7 in), among the leaves. The very small flowers, ranging from cream to pale yellow, are tightly packed along thin branches that emanate from the floral stem which remain on the plant, often until winter. Male plants are distinct from female plants. When watered during the summer, this dasylirion shows spectacular growth. Careful consideration should be given to the location of this plant, and it should not be disturbed: its fragile root system does not like to be disturbed and does not tolerate transplantation very well. Unlike the agave, the dasylirion is not a monocarpic plant: flowering does not result in the death of the rosette, a lateral bud located on the main axis of the plant will take over.

The Dasylirion cedrosanum is a bright, architectural plant that charms with the graceful symmetry of its vegetation. Superb in a large pot with simple shapes, it is perfect in a minimalist garden. Give it plenty of sunlight and soil that does not retain water, as it does not tolerate heavy and wet soils in winter. It is perfect on a large arid slope, at the top of a large exotic or contemporary rockery, or even near a swimming pool if the soil is well prepared to accommodate it. To dress its base, consider, for example, a carpet of silver basket, Cerastostigma plumbaginoides, Delosperma, or a dry meadow called Zoyzia tenuifolia, the Mascarene grass. It can also be planted with agaves, prickly pears, relatively hardy candelabra cacti (Cleistocactus strausii, Cylindropuntia imbricata), and equally spectacular and frugal shrubby aloes.