Friday, February 5, 2010

Agave -- don't get stuck



There are at least fifteen different varieties of agave plants in the U.S. Here is a list of the most common from the USDA:

Agave L. agave
AGDE Agave deserti Engelm. desert agave
AGDED Agave deserti Engelm. ssp. deserti desert agave
AGDES Agave deserti Engelm. ssp. simplex Gentry desert agave
AGPA4 Agave parryi Engelm. Parry's agave
AGPAN6 Agave parryi Engelm. ssp. neomexicana (Woot. & Standl.) Ullrich Parry's agave
AGPAP5 Agave parryi Engelm. ssp. parryi Parry's agave
AGSH Agave shawii Engelm. coastal agave
AGTE7 Agave tequilana F.A.C Weber tequila agave
AGUT Agave utahensis Engelm. Utah agave
AGUTE Agave utahensis Engelm. var. eborispina (Hester) Breitung Utah agave
AGUTK Agave utahensis Engelm. var. kaibabensis (McKelvey) Breitung Kaibab agave
AGUTN Agave utahensis Engelm. var. nevadensis Engelm. ex Greenm. & Roush Nevada agave
AGUTU Agave utahensis Engelm. var. utahensis Utah agave
HETE7 Hechtia texensis S. Watson Texas false agave

Agave are not cactus. They do not have areoles or circular clusters of spines that define the Cactaceae family. One thing I do know about agave is that the spine at the end of the leaves leaves a big hole in your foot or leg if you happen to get stuck and it is very poisonous and hurts for a very long time. I once had one go through my boot into my foot, so I know first hand how badly they hurt.

When I first moved to the lower desert, one of the first plants I remember were a row of very large agaves along the south edge of our yard. The plants were much taller than I was and years later, after flowering, they all died about the same time. Even though they are sometimes called century plants, they really do not take a whole century to bloom, but when the do bloom, the main plant dies. Not to worry however, they reproduce with shoots from the roots of the parent plant and can spread rapidly. Once they are established, you have to be very persistent to kill them off.

They make some of the prettiest patterns of any of the desert plants, even if they aren't cactus.

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