Agave verdensis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Agave verdensis | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Asparagaceae |
| Subfamily: | Agavoideae |
| Genus: | Agave |
| Species: | A. verdensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Agave verdensis W.C.Hodgs. & Salywon[2] | |
Agave verdensis, or the Sacred Mountain agave, is a perennial plant in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae.
The scientific name makes reference to Verde Valley, Arizona where the species occurs, while the common name refers to the Sacred Mountain archaeological site, as the species grows nearby and is believed to have been cultivated by the same culture.[3]
Description
Agave verdensis is a perennial rosette-forming plant with succulent leaves, 50–60 cm tall and wide and producing abundant offsets. The leaves are short-lanceolate to short-oblanceolate, pointed, bluish gray, maroon distally, typically with marginal teeth bent downwards but occasionally upright, upturned or recurved. Flowers have a sweet musky smell and are produced in clusters in large inflorescences 4.5-6 m tall. Tepals are greenish, the stamens are cream-yellow, and the ovary is light green. The fruits are linear-oblong to obovoid, with valves 11–18 mm wide, stipes 1–4 mm long. Fully mature seeds are 5×6.5 mm.[3] The species is diploid.[3][4] The flowering season is short (late June to mid July) and synchronous, i.e. all plants that flower in a given year develop around the same time.[3][4]