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Pachypodium lamerii or Madagascar Palm
 Family - Apocynaceae
Madagascar palm or Pachypodium lamerii is a very exotic succulent that looks like a tree whose trunk is covered with pointy hard needles. Narrow green leaves are collected at the top of trunk - so it looks like a palm tree - hence the nickname.
As the name confirms - pachypodium came from Madagascar and likes warm conditions. In the natural environment they can grow up to 6 meters and do bloom.
I got the guy on the picture from Walmart when he was just small fragile seedling. After couple years he became sturdy and handsome, although I don't count on any flowers indoors in our northern climat.
Not very demanding Madagascar Palm needs bright spot preferrably with direct sunlight and very good draining soil. I use cactus soil mix - works great.
Pachypodium lamerii has it's rest period when all the leaves fell of. At this point of time reduce watering to the minimum/ almost none.
During growth period - from spring to early fall in my case - Madagascar Palm needs to be watered as often as needed to keep the soil slightly moist. If overdried - it can loose leaves right then.
If you have a backyard ol balcony put it there for the summer - pachypodium enjoys fresh air.
I know that you can make Madagascar Palm to branch. You just need to cut off the
top (and actually use it for propagation), the remaining plant should give the
new growth from the sides of trunk. Too afraid to spoil my plant, I am on the
look out for new seedling to experiment on.
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