Agave macroacantha Zucc. , also known as the Black-spined Agave is a medium sized agave that forms dense clumps to 60 cm tall by 1.5 m wide composed of very regular leaf rosettes of a bluish grey colour that can be basal or can grow on a very short stem. Leaves are succulent, narrow sword-shaped blue-grey or greyish green and up to 35 cm long at a maximum, ending in sharp, contrasting, black spines at the tips. Flowers are small, purple-tinged green with a fuzzy interior, growing in bunches on sturdy stems of up to 3 m in height,though it has been reported that the age of the plant needs to be 15 years or better to flower. In the wild it is a very variable plant, with some populations having large, jet-black terminal spines, some having red-brown spines, some with small spines, some large.
Genus name comes from from Ancient Greek Ἀγαυή (Agauḗ, “Agave”), from ἀγαυός (agauós, “noble, illustrious”).
Agave macroacantha
Agave macroacantha is ca. 40 cm tall and comes in a ø 22 cm pot.
