Agave deserti
From California Natives Wiki
Botanical Name: Agave desertii
Common Name: Desert Agave
- Dramatic flower stalks rise on stalk up to 15 feet tall. Give well-drained soil, sparse water, and sun. Likes very dry conditions--does best away from immediate coast. It is the larval food plant for the CA Giant-Skipper butterfly.
- Plant Family: Agavaceae
- Plant Type: Succulent
- Height by Width: 2' H x 3' W (flower to 15' H)
- Growth Habit: Rosettes, forming colony
- Deciduous/Evergreen: Evergreen
- Growth Rate: Slow
- Sun Exposure: Full sun
- Soil Preference: Well-draining
- Water Requirements: Drought-tolerant to infrequent
- Cold Hardy to: Frost tender
- Flower Season: May - July
- Flower Color: Yellow
- Endangered?: Not listed
- Distribution: Colorado and Mojave Deserts; Baja
- Natural Habitat: Desert washes and dry slopes below 5000'
- Care and Maintenance
- History
- Introduced into cultivation in California by Theodore Payne.
- From California Native Plants, Theodore Payne's 1941 catalog: "Interesting succulent found on the rocky slopes of the western edge of the Colorado Desert, forming large colonies. Leaves large, gray green. Gallon cans, 50c; Balled, $1.50."
- Other Names
- References
- Bornstein, Carol, David Fross, and Bart O'Brien. California Native Plants for the Garden. Los Olivos, CA: Cachuma Press. 2005.
- Harlow, Nora and Kristin Jakob. Wild Lilies, Irises, and Grasses: Gardening with California Monocots. Berkely and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press. 2003.
- Links
