Dasylirion is a genus of succulent, rosette-forming plants in the Asparagaceae family, where it is included in the subfamily Convallarioideae. Most species are native to mountainous arid regions of Mexico, with some species also native to the Southwestern United States. The common name sotol is used in English and Spanish to describe various Dasylirion species, as well as giving its name to a distilled spirit made from some species of the genus.

The genus name Dasylirion is a compound word coming from the Greek δασύς (dasy), meaning "dense, thick" or "shaggy" and λείριον (lirion), meaning "lily".

As of November 2024, the genus Dasylirion includes 23 accepted species.

Dasylirion are perennial and often long lived plants. With age, most form erect or reclining trunks that vary in height, depending on the species. The leaves blades are long-linear, evergreen and numerous, and are arranged into rosettes, living for several years and remaining persistent even after dying leading to the formation of a skirt around the plant. Some species have sharp and/or curved prickles along the leaf margins.

Similar to Agave, a genus in the same family and found in the same regions as Dasylirion, the inflorescences consist of a tall stem or "mast" ("quiote" in Mexico), which can grow several times the height of the plant, that grows apically from the center of the rosette. The flowers themselves are small and arranged in panicles at the end of the long, woody stem. Unlike most species of Agave that are monocarpic, Dasylirion are polycarpic plants, meaning they do not die after flowering and may go on to flower many more times.

Dasylirion are dioecious, with the male and female flowers on separate plants.

All 23 accepted species of Dasylirion are native to Mexico, with the genus covering much of the country from the border with the Southwestern United States to the border of Oaxaca in the south. Across Mexico, Dasylirion species are native to 20 states, with the greatest numbers found in San Luis Potosí, followed by Chihuahua, Coahuila and Zacatecas. The typical habitat for most species are areas of transition between xerophilous shrublands and coniferous and Quercus (or oak) forests, such as the Sierra Madre Oriental pine-oak forests. The greatest diversity in the genus is concentrated in the Sierra Madre Oriental where two regions of species richness are found (in common with both being centers of endemism), the first in the Gran Sierra Plegada, and the second in the arid zone between the states of Querétaro and Hidalgo.

Three species also considered native to the Southwestern United States: Dasylirion wheeleri, commonly known as desert spoon in the USA, is native to Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, as well as Chihuahua and Sonora in Mexico; Dasylirion texanum, native to Texas as well as Coahuila, Mexico; and Dasylirion leiophyllum, native to New Mexico, Texas, as well as Chihuahua, and Coahuila in Mexico.