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Hooveria purpurea
Purple amole is a rare Californian bulbous perennial in the asparagus family, related to agaves, that flowers in late spring. It is federally listed as threatened, so it is rarely grown and is best left to wild or restoration settings.
Hooveria purpurea is a species of flowering plant related to the agaves known by the common name purple amole. This species of soap plant is endemic to California, where it grows in the Santa Lucia Range, in the Central Coast region. There are two varieties of this plant, and both are believed to be quite rare. It is a federally listed threatened species.
This is a plant of the Mediterranean climate with hot, rainless summers and wet winters. The Hooveria purpurea grows in woodland areas of Southern Monterey and San Luis Obispo California coastline. It grows on highly weathered, rocky, reddish clay soils in foothill woodland areas near the south-central San Luis Obispo County. Hooviera purpurea var. reducta, is endemic to the Santa Lucia Range of Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties. It is known from only two locations, the Army installation Fort Hunter Liggett and the National Guard post Camp Roberts. There are a total of four populations, probably totalling under 10,000 total individuals. The habitat is grassland with patches of oak woodland. The Camatta Canyon amole, var. reducta, is known only from the La Panza Range in the center of San Luis Obispo County, about 61 kilometers away from the nearest population of purple amole. There is a single population with a variable number of individuals. The population sizes are difficult to estimate because the plants bloom infrequently and go dormant for several seasons at a time.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Hooveria purpurea 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.
