Agave americana
Agave delamateri
American agave, American century plant, centuryplant, maguey americano
Tonto Basin agave, Tonto Basin century plant
erect, spreading to ascending, occasionally reflexed, 80–200 × 15–25 cm;
blade light green to green or glaucous-gray, sometimes variegated or cross-zoned, narrowly to broadly lanceolate, smooth, rigid;
margins nearly straight or undulate to crenate, armed, teeth single, 5–10 mm, 1–4 cm apart;
apical spine dark brown to grayish, conical or subulate, 2–6 cm.
erect or erect-ascending, 50–63(–73) × 7.5–9 cm;
blade glaucous-gray to -bluish, cross-zoned, lanceolate or oblanceolate, rigid, adaxially concave, abaxially convex;
margins straight or repand, armed, teeth single, well defined, 3.5–5 mm, 1–3 cm apart, interstitial teeth (3–)6–12, mostly along distal 2/3 of margins;
apex conspicuously incurved, spine brownish gray, slender, 2.8–3.5(–4.9) cm.
5–9 m.
4.5–6 m.
paniculate, not bulbiferous;
bracts persistent, triangular, 5–15 cm;
lateral branches 15–35, horizontal to slightly ascending, comprising distal 1/3–1/2 of inflorescence, longer than 10 cm.
broadly paniculate, not bulbiferous, open;
bracts persistent, triangular, 1–5.5 cm;
lateral branches 12–17, horizontal, comprising distal 3/5–5/8 of inflorescence, longer than 10 cm.
erect, 7–10.5 cm;
perianth yellow, tube funnelform to cylindric, 8–20 × 12–20 mm, limb lobes erect, subequal, 20–35 mm;
stamens long-exserted;
filaments inserted above mid perianth tube, erect, yellow, 6–9 cm;
anthers yellow, 25–35 mm;
ovary 3–4.5 cm, neck constricted, 3–6(–8) mm.
14–20 per cluster, erect, 4.7–6.7(–7) cm;
perianth cream, tinged with light green, tube not shallow, campanulate, 11–16 × 11–16 mm, limb lobes persistent and often leathery during and after anthesis, spreading, unequal, 9–18 mm, apex flushed with maroon;
stamens long-exserted;
filaments inserted at 1 level ca. mid perianth tube, erect, yellow, 3–5.3 cm, apex flushed with maroon;
anthers yellow, 11–20 mm;
ovary 2.1–2.9 cm, neck slightly constricted, 1–3.5 mm.
short-pedicellate, oblong, 3.5–8 cm, apex beaked.
not seen.
6–8 mm.
unknown.
Agave americana
Agave delamateri
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
Various chromosome numbers have been reported for Agave americana under a variety of names, typically without regard to the plant’s origin or its precise taxonomic disposition. Nonetheless, the species is most certainly a polyploid complex based on x = 30, with reports of n = 30 and 2n = 60, 120, and 180 documented by S. D. McKelvey and K. Sax (1933), H. Matsuura and T. Sutô (1935), E. B. Granick (1944), A. K. Sharma and U. C. Bhattacharyya (1962), M. S. Cave (1964), S. Banerjee and A. K. Sharma (1987), Huang S. F. et al. (1989) and B. Vijayavalli and P. M. Mathew (1990). Various dysploids have also been reported (A. F. Dyer et al. 1970; J. L. Strother and G. L. Nesom 1997). See H. S. Gentry (1982) for details.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Of conservation concern.
Agave delamateri is known only from about 90 individual clones and always in association with Mogollon or Salado settlement features. The plant is probably a cultivar derived from A. palmeri or a closely related taxon by pre-Columbian people. Agave delamateri hybridizes with A. chrysantha, acting as a pollen donor.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaves 80–135 cm, 4–6 times longer than wide; capsules 3.5–4 cm. | subsp. protamericana |
1. Leaves 100–200 cm, 6–10 times longer than wide; capsules 4–8 cm. | subsp. americana |
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
