Agave angustifolia, the Caribbean agave or mescal agave, is a spiny succulent from Mexico and Central America, grown for mezcal and as an ornamental. It needs full sun, sharp drainage and infrequent watering.
Family
Asparagaceae (Asparagus family)
Grows as
Succulent
Light
Full sun
Water
Water deeply but infrequently, letting the soil dry out completely between waterings.
Soil
Fast-draining sandy or gritty cactus mix.
Temperature
18–30 °C; protect below 5 °C
How easy
Easy
Native range
Mexico to C. America
Climate
desert or dry shrubland
About
Agave angustifolia (Caribbean agave) is a species of agave plant which is native to Mexico and Central America. It is used to make mezcal and also as an ornamental plant. The cultivar 'Marginata' that white margins on the leaves is a popular variety cultivated in botanical gardens and backyards. It is very closely related to blue agave Agave tequilana, but is used to make the distilled alcoholic beverage mezcal instead of tequila, and is the predominant agave species grown in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Agave angustifolia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.