Agave macroacantha

Agave macroacantha, the black-spined agave or large-thorned agave, is a species of succulent flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae naturally occurring in Oaxaca and also near the town of Tehuacan in the State of Puebla, Mexico.[4]

Agave macroacantha
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asparagaceae
Subfamily: Agavoideae
Genus: Agave
Species:
A. macroacantha
Binomial name
Agave macroacantha
Synonyms[2][3]
List of synonyms
  • Agave flavescens var. macroacantha (Zuccarini) Jacobi 1864
  • Agave flavescens var. macroacantha (Herbert) Jacobi 1865
  • Agave pugioniformis Zucc. 1832
  • Agave flavescens Salm-Dyck 1834
  • Agave macracantha Herbert 1837 (nom. inval.)
  • Agave besseriana Van Houtte 1868
  • Agave subfalcata Jacobi 1869
  • Agave macrantha Jacobi 1869 (nom. inval)
  • Agave besseriana candida Jacobi 1870 (nom. inval)
  • Agave besseriana longifolia glauca Jacobi 1870 (nom. inval)
  • Agave besseriana longifolia viridis Jacobi 1870 (nom. inval)
  • Agave besseriana hystix hort ex Hooker 1871
  • Agave linearis Jacobi 1871
  • Agave oligophylla Backer 1877
  • Agave sudburyensis Backer 1877
  • Agave paucifolia Backer 1878 (Nom. illeg.)
  • Agave integrifolia Backer 1888
  • Agave macracantha var. integrifolia Trelease 1907
  • Agave macracantha var. planifolia A. Berger 1915
  • Agave pugioniformis Zucc. 1833

Description

Agave macroacantha produces a medium-sized leaf rosette that can be basal or can grow on a very short stem. Leaves are succulent, greyish green and up to 1.8 feet long at a maximum, ending in sharp black spines that are up to 1.2 inches long at the tips. Flowers are small, grey and red, growing in bunches on sturdy stems of up to 3 m (10 feet) in height.[5]

Cultivation

The plant prefers a dry, sunny and hot location for summer and from early autumn onwards a cooler, well-lit space. It likes regular watering in summer and only minimum watering in winter, and will fare well in a large pot with sparse, gravelly soil.[6][2][7]

In the UK this plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.[8]

References

  1. García-Mendoza, A.J.; Torres-García, I.; Casas, A.; Sandoval-Gutiérrez, D. (2019). "Agave macroacantha". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T115645621A116354068. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T115645621A116354068.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. Cactus Art Nursery, Agave macroacantha viridis
  3. The Plant List, Agave macroacantha
  4. Zuccarini, Joseph Gerhard. Nova Acta Physico-medica Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae Naturae Curiosorum Exhibentia Ephemerides sive Observationes Historias et Experimenta 16(2): 676. 1833.
  5. Gentry, Howard Scott. Agaves of Continental North America. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1992.
  6. San Marcos Growers, Agave macroacantha
  7. Jurassic Garden.com: Agave macroacantha Archived 2015-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, image.
  8. "RHS Plantfinder - Agave macroacantha". Royal Horticultural Society. 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  • The Complete Encyclopedia of Succulents by Zdenek Jezek and Libor Kunte
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