- Agave bracteosa
Taxobox
name = "Agave bracteosa"
image_width = 250px
regnum =Plant ae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis =Liliopsida
ordo =Asparagales
familia =Agavaceae
genus = "Agave "
species = "A. bracteosa"
binomial = "Agave bracteosa"
binomial_authority =S. Wats. ex Engelm. 1882"Agave bracteosa" is a species of
agave sometimes known as "spider agave".Small among the agaves, its green succulent leaves are long and lanceolate, 50-70 cm long and 3-5 cm at the base, where they are the widest. They have minute serrations along the margins, no teeth, no spine at the end, and have a tendency to curl somewhat, in a fashion reminiscent of the
octopus agave "A. vilmoriniana". The inflorescence spike is also short at 1.2-1.7 meters, and its upper third is densely covered with white or pale yellow flowers. The flowers are distinctive in thattepal s arise from a disk-shaped receptacle rather than the usual tube. The stamens are quite long.It is endemic to a small region of the northern
Sierra Madre Occidental ofMexico , found on cliffs and rocky slopes from 900 to 1,700 meters.Gentry defines a group "Choritepalae" that includes "A. bracteosa" along with "
Agave ellemeetiana " and "Agave guiengola ", and states that the discoid receptacle and unarmed leaves are different enough from other agaves to justify placing "A. bracteosa" and "A. ellemeetiana" into a separate genus, but that characteristics of "A. guiengola" link the group to the rest of "Agave".References
*
Howard Scott Gentry , "Agaves of Continental North America" (University of Arizona Press, 1982) pp. 91-93
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