Agave americana |
Agave palmeri |
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American agave, American century plant, centuryplant, maguey americano |
Palmer agave, Palmer's century plant |
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Habit | Plants acaulescent or short-stemmed, commonly suckering, trunks less than 2 m; rosettes not cespitose, 10–20 × 20–37 dm. | Plants acaulescent, rarely suckering; rosettes usually solitary, not cespitose, 4–13 × 7–13 dm, open. | ||||
Leaves | 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. |
ascending to spreading, 35–92 × 3.5–19 cm; blade pale to glaucous-green or green, sometimes tinged reddish, not cross-zoned, linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, rigid, adaxially concave toward apex, abaxially convex toward base; margins straight or somewhat undulate, armed, teeth single, well defined, firmly attached, 3–6 mm, (0.5–)1–2 cm apart, interstitial teeth 4–6, mostly along distal 2/3 of margins; apex not conspicuously incurved, spine reddish brown to brown, acicular, 3–6 cm. |
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Scape | 5–9 m. Inflorescences 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. |
(1.7–)4–6.5(–7.2) m. Inflorescences broadly paniculate, not bulbiferous, open; bracts persistent, triangular, 1–5 cm; lateral branches 8–26(–32), slightly ascending, comprising distal 1/3 of inflorescence, longer than 10 cm. |
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Flowers | 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. |
8–16 per cluster, erect, 4.5–7.5 cm; perianth cream to pale yellow or light green, tube not shallow, urceolate, 10–18 × 10–16 mm, limb lobes persistent and often leathery during and after anthesis, erect, strongly unequal, (6–)9–18 mm, apex often flushed with maroon; stamens long-exserted; filaments inserted at 2 levels, above mid perianth tube and near rim, erect, pale yellow or reddish, 4–5.5(–5.8) cm, apex often flushed with maroon; anthers yellow, 11–25 mm; ovary 1.8–3.6 cm, neck slightly constricted, (0.5–)4–6 mm. |
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Capsules | short-pedicellate, oblong, 3.5–8 cm, apex beaked. |
short-pedicellate, narrowly oblong to oblong, 3.5–6 cm, apex short- to long-beaked. |
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Seeds | 6–8 mm. |
5–7 mm. |
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2n | = 60. |
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Agave americana |
Agave palmeri |
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Phenology | Flowering late spring–summer. | |||||
Habitat | Sandy to gravelly places on limestone in oak woodlands and grassy plains | |||||
Elevation | 900–2000 m (3000–6600 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
sw United States; Mexico
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AZ; NM; nw Mexico
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Discussion | 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.) |
Agave palmeri hybridizes with A. chrysantha in Arizona. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 452. | FNA vol. 26, p. 460. | ||||
Parent taxa | ||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 323. (1753) | Engelmann: Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis 3: 319. (1875) | ||||
Web links |