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Black Spined Agave

Agave macroacantha

Black Spined Agave
Photo: Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0

Black spined agave is a succulent rosette plant from Mexico with greyish green leaves ending in long black spines. It needs full sun, good drainage and a dry rest in winter.

Family
Asparagaceae (Asparagus family)
Grows as
Succulent
Light
Full sun
Water
Water regularly in summer, let the soil dry fully between waterings, and keep it almost dry in winter.
Soil
Sparse, gritty, fast-draining cactus or succulent mix.
Temperature
18–35 °C; protect below 5 °C
How easy
Easy
Native range
Mexico (Puebla, Oaxaca)
Climate
seasonally dry tropical

About

Agave macroacantha, the black-spined agave or large-thorned agave, is a species of succulent flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae naturally occurring in Oaxaca and also near the town of Tehuacan in the State of Puebla, Mexico.

How to grow it

The plant prefers a dry, sunny and hot location for summer and from early autumn onwards a cooler, well-lit space. It likes regular watering in summer and only minimum watering in winter, and will fare well in a large pot with sparse, gravelly soil.

In the UK this plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Other Agave plants

American century plant · Century plant · Fox Tail Agave · Cow's Horn Agave · Agave colorata · Thread Agave · Henequen · Agave guadalajarana · Agave maculata · Murphey's century plant · Palmer's century plant · Agave parrasana

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Agave macroacantha 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.

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