Agave parrasana

Agave parrasana, the cabbage head agave or cabbage head century plant,^[3] is a flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae.^[4] A slow-growing evergreen succulent from North East Mexico, it produces a compact rosette of fleshy thorn-tipped grey-green leaves, 60 cm tall and wide. The leaves are blue green and the thorns are red. The whole plant may reach 100 centimeters tall and wide.^[5] Occasionally, mature plants produce a spectacular flower head up to 6m tall, opening red and turning yellow.^[6] This signals the death of the flowering rosette. However, offsets may form and continue growing.

As it can tolerate temperatures of −12 °C (10 °F) or less, it is a popular plant to grow outdoors in a sheltered cactus garden or similar environment, and has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.^[7] In the US, it may be grown outdoors in USDA hardiness zones 7–10. It is susceptible to scale and chlorosis resulting from magnesium deficiency.^[8]