These two disparate species were put together in the same pot before I bought it. What they are remains a total mystery. Please help me identify them.

The one with all the little baby plants growing on the edges of the leaves is a Kalanchoe.

http://garden.org/plants/searc...

Hello HunterSThompson! Agree with Dave, it is some type of spotted kalanchoe.

The other plant with strappy leaves and wide base seems to be a Beucarnea recurvata.

I agree, #1 is Kalanchoe and #2 is Beaucarnea, commonly called Ponytail Palm although it is not actually a palm: http://garden.org/plants/searc...

I think that container was originally for the Beaucarnea recurvata, and maybe some Kalanchoe babies dropped there, grew, and there you have it a bonus set of plants. I would suggest you repot the Kalanchoe to its separate container, and leave the Beaucarnea alone in that container. You can lift the Beaucarnea up a bit, it always forms a beautiful caudex, grows very slow and very drought tolerant.

with tarev
The Kalanchoe can quickly become invasive - ask me how I know - so if you are in an area without frost I'd be careful where I put it.

How do you know

HI & welcome!

The Kal looks like this one. Agree, if you live where there are no hard frosts, it will be invasive.
Mother of Thousands (Kalanchoe 'Houghtonii')

It looks like something is wound around the base of the ponytail?

You guys are amazing! I live in Taiwan. High humidity and T between 25 and 30 celsius. These days T drops down to 15, 17, but usually it's around 24 in the daytime.

Thanks for your location info, Hunter. So better make your media as gritty as you can. Both plants are succulents that thrive better in warm and low humidity environments. Your temperature levels are very good, just protect from too much rain. You may have occasional cool downs from Siberian air influence, but with your daytime highs, it would still be okay, just keep them dry when cold air is around.

This is how gritty I make the media of my Beaucarne recurvata, this plant is so drought tolerant, so it is very efficient in holding water in its caudex. My plant stays outdoors year round, since our winters are quite mild, no snow. It gets down to 35F (1.6C) overnights at times, so keep it dry when it gets cold.

The Kalanchoe is probably not something you want to keep around in that climate. The babies will be everywhere in the blink of an eye!

Oh yes..Kalanchoes are such avid volunteers

purpleinopp said:The Kalanchoe is probably not something you want to keep around in that climate. The babies will be everywhere in the blink of an eye!

Oh boy, do i ever agree with this statement!
They will spread so fast you'll be going

The second plant (not the Kalanchoe) is not a Beaucarnea. Looks like some kind of bulb. You can tell the difference in the way the real thing forms a trunk (see tarev's pic above) whereas the unidentified plant in the second picture has a set of concentric rings which are more onion-like in their appearance.

Actually, I have seen some that looks like round onions with no trunk similar to mine. So it will really help to lift the caudex a bit. In time, maybe it will be able to form a more visible trunk, given more appropriate growing conditions. It is such a slow grower though so got to be very patient.

It's not growing the kind of trunk one would expect. You don't ever have to lift the caudex on a ponytail palm. They are not geophytes. The geophyte of the family is Calibanus. Even as a very young plant, B. recurvata is taller than it is wide. Bottle shaped. Or maybe globose. The plant pictured is not a Beaucarnea. Or at least not that one, I don't claim to know them all.

I thought for sure that plant #2 was a juvenile form of Pony Tail Palm but it is confusing with what appears to be roots wound around and around the base of the plant. I'd be curious to see it out of the pot. If it isn't the Pony Tail Plant, I wonder if it could be Pregnant Onion (Albuca bracteata)

Here's a photo of some juvenile Ponytail Palm (Beaucarnea recurvata)

Do update us later on Hunter how your plant grows..we will all just wait and see, it will be a bit of a wait for sure with its slow growth process, but it is always fun to see its growth year to year, then we can know which one it is. Just treat it like a succulent for now that needs very good well draining media and warmth, keep from being too wet during your rainy months. Good luck and happy growing!

Ponytail palm in flower on the patio at the moment... they are male or female.

Baja, very nice! I've never seen one in bloom.