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Agave delamateri

(Agave)

Overview

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Threatened

Threat status

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Agave, Tonto Basin Agave

Description

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Genus Agave

Plants short-stemmed pachycauls , perennial , often flowering after 8-20+ years, monocarpic or polycarpic, acaulescent or caulescent , scapose , forming succulent rosettes on thick, fibrous-rooted crowns, often rhizomatous . Stems aboveground, unbranched or, less often, branched. Leaves evergreen in rosette; blade light green to green and occasionally with lighter patterns of white (€œcross-zoned€) or imprinted with white (€œbud-prints€), linear-lanceolate to ovate , firm to rigid , often thick and fleshy , margins entire, filiferous , or armed with marginal teeth and short to long, sharp-pointed apical spine. Scapes, with inflorescences, much exceeding foliage . Inflorescences terminal atop a semiwoody stalk , spicate , racemose, or paniculate , open to dense, bracteate , occasionally bulbiferous , with flowers borne singly, in pairs, or in umbellike clusters of 2-40+ on peduncles or the lateral branches borne by the peduncle. Flowers protandrous, erect or recurved, showy; perianth mostly yellow, infrequently whitish or reddish, funnelform to tubular ; tepals 6, connate basally into tube atop a typically constricted neck; limb lobes erect or curved , equal to unequal in length and/or width , linear to oblong or deltate, often papillate at recurved or hooded apex; stamens 6, exserted, attached atop or within perianth tube; filaments mostly filiform ; anthers versatile, linear; ovary inferior, greenish at anthesis , 3-locular, succulent, thick-walled, ovules numerous ; style subulate ; stigma 3-lobed, glandular , capitate, papillate. Fruits capsular , oblong to ovoid , mostly thick walled and fleshy, dehiscence loculicidal. Seeds black, flattened, obovoid , becoming globose distally. x = 30 (5 large, 25 small) .

Species ca. 200: warmer regions in the Americas from the sw United States and Florida s to the Caribbean Islands and into Mexico, Central America, and tropical South America; widely cultivated.

Specimens of Agave are planted occasionally for their horticultural value in warmer regions. Native Americans have used most of our native species for food and fiber. Mescal and tequila are distilled liquors derived from the meristem and leaf base of agave. Tequila comes mainly from A. tequilana F. A. C. Weber, whereas A. angustifolia Haworth is the usual source for €œcommerical€ mescal. Some variants of A. angustifolia are also important sources of fiber. Commercially, most agave fiber comes from A. sisalana in what is now a worldwide industry . Agave fourcroydes Lemaire is also used but more locally in Latin America including Mexico. Both species are sterile hybrids of unknown origin .

Native Americans who used agave plants for food and fiber developed numerous cultivars, including many that may be the results of hybridization or mutation events resulting in fully or partially sterile clones. Some have been sufficiently studied cytologically and morphologically so that the origin of the hybrid species can be ascertained. Naturally occurring hybrids also are known, and some sterile recombinants are so distinctive that they have been formally named (e.g. , Agave ×ajoensis, A. ×arizonica, A. ×glomeruliflora, and probably A. schottii var. treleasei) . There remain some species that may be of hybrid origin, or at least now are sterile or partially sterile, but little is known about their origin. Essentially, all the species are known today from pre-Columbian agricultural sites, and most appear to have had a Mexican origin (e.g., the many expressions of A. americana subsp. americana, A. decipiens, A. desmettiana, A. neglecta, A. delamateri, A. phillipsiana, A. sisalana, and A. weberi) . Some rare species associated with pre-Columbian sites are fertile (e.g., A. murpheyi) ; whether they were locally selected or brought from elsewhere is unknown. Some hybrid expressions, such as A. gracilipes, seem to be well established . It is a matter of taxonomic judgment whether the species status for A. gracilipes should be altered to hybrid status; we have not proposed that now because the cytological work to confirm the morphological hypothesis of a hybrid origin has not been done.

Indigenous people long have used agaves. Those containing high amounts of sapogenins are bitter and generally not used for food. Agave plants used for food are harvested when they show signs of flowering. Rosettes are collected and the leaves cut away, leaving the heart or head , which is pit-baked for many hours. It has been known for a long time that agaves have been cultivated in the warmer regions of North America, but it was only recently discovered that cultivation occurred north of the Mexican border . Such agaves are typically found near agricultural features and possess morphological characteristics that reflect desirable agronomic attributes . People no doubt traded agave products and live plants, thereby expanding the distribution of many expressions of agave. Agaves whose distributions directly reflect their movement by man include Agave murpheyi, A. delamateri, A. phillipsiana, A. applanata, A. karatto Miller, and A. decipiens. It is also suggested that A. americana subsp. americana var. expansa, A. desmettiana, A. sisalana, A. neglecta, and A. weberi may have been ancient cultivars originating in Latin America or the Caribbean, although at present there is little information to support this hypothesis.

Identification of Agave species is often difficult, especially with nonflowering material . See H. S. Gentry (1982, p. 47) for information on how to prepare specimens properly.[1]

Physical Description

Species Agave delamateri

Plants acaulescent , freely suckering; rosettes solitary to cespitose, 9-10 × 9-10 dm, open. Leaves 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. Scape 4.5-6 m. Inflorescences 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. Flowers 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. Capsules not seen. Seeds unknown. Flowering early summer. [source]

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 . [source]

Habit: Forb/herb, Subshrub , Shrub

Flowers: Bloom Period: April, May, June. • Flower Color: cream, tan

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 36-48" tall.

Habitat

Gravelly places with desert scrub , rarely in chaparral or pinyon-juniper woodlands; of conservation concern; 700--1600 m [2].

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 24-36" apart.

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 9b, 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

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Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 06-Jan-2005

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Agave

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 242 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

A. aktites (Agave) · A. albomarginata (Agave) · A. americana americana (Agave) · A. americana protamericana (American Agave) · A. americana var. americana (American Century Plant) · A. americana var. expansa (Agave) · A. americana var. marginata (American Century Plant) · A. americana var. striata (Agave) · A. americana 'Marginata Aurea Monstrosa' (Dwarf Variegated Century Plant) · A. americana 'Medio-picta Alba' (Century Plant) · A. americana 'Mediopicta' (Agave) · A. americana 'Mediopicta Alba' (Agave) · A. americana subsp. protamericana (American Century Plant) · A. americana 'Variegata' (Agave) · A. angustifolia (Century Plant) · A. angustifolia var. pacifica (Agave) · A. angustifolia var. sargentii (Agave) · A. angustifolia var. variegata (Agave) · A. anomala (Agave) · A. antillarum (Agave) · A. applanata (Agave) · A. arizonica (Agave) · A. asperrima (Rough Century Plant) · A. atrovirens (Maguey) · A. attentuata (Fox Tail Agave) · A. attenuata (Agave) · A. attenuata x shawii (Red Margin Agave) · A. attenuata 'Albo-Marginata' (White Fox Tail Agave) · A. attenuata 'Nova' (Agave) · A. attenuata 'Variegata' (Agave) · A. aurea (Agave) · A. avellanidens (Agave) · A. bahamana (Agave) · A. barbadensis (Agave) · A. boldinghiana (Agave) · A. bovicornuta (Agave) · A. braceana (Agave) · A. bracteosa (Squid Agave) · A. breedlovei (Agave) · A. brevipetala (Agave) · A. brevispina (Agave) · A. cacozela (Agave) · A. calodonta (Agave) · A. cantala (Agave) · A. capensis (Agave) · A. caribaeicola (Agave) · A. celsii (Agave) · A. celsii var. albicans (Agave) · A. cerulata (Agave) · A. cerulata dentiens (Agave) · A. chiapensis (Agave) · A. chrysantha (Agave) · A. chrysoglossa (Agave) · A. cocui (Agave) · A. colimana (Agave) · A. colorata (Agave) · A. congesta (Agave) · A. cupreata (Agave) · A. dasylirioides (Agave) · A. datylio (Agave) · A. datylio var. vexans (Agave) · A. decipiens (Agave) · A. delamateri (Agave) · A. deserti (Desert Agave) · A. deserti deserti (Desert Agave) · A. deserti Engelm. var. simplex (Gentry) (Simple Desert Agave) · A. deserti pringlei (Desert Agave) · A. deserti simplex (Desert Agave) · A. deserti var. simplex (Agave) · A. desmettiana (Dwarf Century Plant) · A. desmettiana 'Variegata' (Dwarf Century Plant) · A. difformis (Agave) · A. durangensis (Agave) · A. echinoides (Agave) · A. eggersiana (Egger's Agave) · A. ellemeetiana (Agave) · A. ensifera (Agave) · A. evadens (Agave) · A. expansa (American Century Plant) · A. felgeri (Mescalito) · A. fenzliana (Agave) · A. ferdinand-regis x scabra (Shark Skin Agave) · A. ferdinandi-regis (King Ferdinand Agave) · A. filifera (Agave) · A. foetida (Mauritius Hemp) · A. fortiflora (Agave) · A. fourcroydes (Agave) · A. franzosinii (Agave) · A. funkiana (Agave) · A. geminiflora (Agave) · A. gentryi (Agave) · A. gentryi 'Jaws' (Jaws Hardy Century Plant) · A. ghiesbreghtii (Agave) · A. gigantensis (Agave) · A. glomeruliflora (Chisos Agave) · A. gracilipes (Agave) · A. grenadina (Agave) · A. grisea (Agave) · A. guadalajarana (Maguey Chato) · A. guiengola (Agave)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 28, 2008:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. James L. Reveal & Wendy C. Hodgson "Agave". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 413, 414, 442, 443, 444, 450, 463. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Agave delamateri". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 443, 446, 460. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012