Accession Count: 7
Common Name:
black spine agave
Family Name:
Asparagaceae
Botanical Name:
Agave macroacantha
Sub Species:
Variety:
Forma:
Cultivar:
Characteristics:
The black spine agave is small and forms clumps of short, tight rosettes growing one to two feet tall and two to four feet wide. It has bluish-gray to powdery blue foliage. This aggressive plant has many spines at the edges and the tip of the foliage, the spines are brownish-black. This plant reproduces at the base and forms many offspring. After 15 years the plant will grow a six foot flower stock that has pinkish-red buds with purplish-green flowers emerging from them (1).
Compound:
Aga mac
Geographic Origin:
Mexico
Ecozone Origin:
Nearctic
Biome Origin:
Natural History:
“Agave macroacantha is a midsize paniculate agave, endemic to the Tehuacán Valley (Gentry, 1982; García‐Mendoza, 1995).” It is locally known as “maguey espadita” (little sword), and its rosettes are occasionally planted to delimit land plots with hedge‐like rows of different plants. It grows mostly on low‐grade slopes forming small colonial accumulations, possibly as a result of its cloning ability (7). “21 miles SE of Tehuacan, Puebla along road to Teotitlan, Puebla, Mexico, North America” (3). There three different cultivars that stem form the black spine agave. Agave macroacantha 'Pablo's Choice' - Small Black-Spined Agave (2). Agave macroacantha Zucc. : forms clumps to 60 cm by 1.5 m composed of bluish grey rosettes. Leaves sword-shaped to 35 cm long with black spines at the tips. Distribution: Oaxaca and Tehuacan in the State of Puebla. (10). Agave macroacantha viridis hort.: has a bluish-green leaves, but it is hard to tell apart it from the stand species, if not for the foliage coloration(10).
Cultivation Notes:
“Plant in well-drained soil in full sun (Light shade or eastern exposure in hot low desert areas).” Very little irrigation is necessary in gardens near the coast but should also be given water occasionally in warmer inland situations (2). “Cultivated in nurseries of local Units of Environmental Management (UMAs for their abbreviation in Spanish), where local people propagate seeds collected in wild populations and sell young plants as ornamental(6).”
Ethnobotany:
Used as fodder consumed by livestock, mainly cattle and goats (6). “Agave macroacantha produces flowering stalks in April and May, and by September–November the capsules are ripe and start to open. Although rarely consumed by humans, the early flowering stalks suffer intense damage by foraging goats” (11) Alcoholic beverages, such as mescal, are made from distilling and fermenting the cooked stems with other agave plants’ sap (6). Often used as ornamental plants (6).
Height:
0 - 5 feet
Width:
0 - 5 feet
Growth Rate:
Slow Growing
Grow Season:
Summer
Flower Season:
Summer
Color:
Green
Function:
Habitat
Spread:
Spreading
Allergen:
Non-allergenic
Invasive:
Benign
Toxicity:
Benign
Hardy:
Semi-hardy
Water Use:
Low water Use
Citations:
- horticultureunlimited.com. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
- “Agave Macroacantha, Black-Spined
Agave, Succulent, [A. Flavescens Ssp. Macroacantha].”
- “Agave Macroacantha - Details.” Encyclopedia
of Life
- “Taxonomy Browser.” National
Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
- -
- “Vulnerability and Risk Management of Agave Species in the Tehuacán Valley,
México.” Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, BioMed Central,
2014.
- “Propagation Mechanisms in Agave Macroacantha (Agavaceae), a Tropical
Arid‐Land
Succulent Rosette.” American Journal of Botany, Wiley-Blackwell, 1
Apr. 2002.
- “Black-Spined Agave (Agave
Macroacantha) in the Agaves Database.” Black-Spined Agave (Agave
Macroacantha) in the Agaves Database - Garden.org.
- “Agave Macroacantha.” Arizona
State University.
- llifle.com
- “Pollination
Ecology of Agave Macroacantha (Agavaceae) in a Mexican Tropical Desert. I.
Floral Biology and Pollination Mechanisms.” American Journal of Botany,
Wiley-Blackwell, 1 July 2000.
