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Products > Mangave 'Macho Mocha'
 
Mangave 'Macho Mocha' - Mangave

Note: This plant is no longer in stock. This is an archive page preserved for informational use.  
Image of Mangave 'Macho Mocha'
[2nd Image]
Habit and Cultural Information
Category: Succulent
Family: Agavaceae (now Asparagaceae)
Origin: Mexico (North America)
Evergreen: Yes
Red/Purple Foliage: Yes
Variegated Foliage: Yes
Flower Color: White
Bloomtime: Infrequent
Synonyms: [Manfreda 'Macho Mocha', Agave hybrid]
Parentage: (Manfreda variegata x Agave celsii?)
Height: 2-3 feet
Width: 4-6 feet
Exposure: Sun or Shade
Summer Dry: Yes
Irrigation (H2O Info): Low Water Needs
Winter Hardiness: 0-10° F
x Mangave 'Macho Mocha' (Mangave) - This rosette-forming plant grows to 4 to 6 feet wide and has thick, fleshy gray-green leaves densely covered with brown-purple spots. These spots are so thick toward the tip of the leaves that the entire surface is a brown-purple color. The thick reddish flower stalk rises from the middle of the plant much in the manner of an Agave. Plants remain solitary until flowering at which time several new plants will emerge from below the older rosette.

Plant in full sun to light shade and water infrequently to regularly. Has been reported to be hardy to 9° F by Tony Avent in North Carolina.

Mangave 'Macho Mocha' was a 2004 Yucca Do Nursery introduction that is thought to be either an intergeneric hybrid between Manfreda variegata and Agave celsii [A. mitis] or a tetraploid mutation of Manfreda variegata. It originated from seed collected by Carl Schoenfeld while on a plant exploration trip into Mexico with the seed off of a plant of Manfreda variegata at a location where there was also Agave celsii growing. Yucca Do Nursery dubbed this plant a "Mangave" - to our knowledge this was the first time this name had been applied to this intergeneric hybrid.

In the treatment in "Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants; Moncotyledons" edited by Urs Eggli (2001) Joachim Thiede, the author on the Agavaceae, combined Polianthes (Tuberose) and Manfreda into Agave, thus making the Mangave actually an interspecific Agave hybrid - for now we will leave it as x Mangave. We grew this plant at our nursery from 2005 until 2020 and discontinued it only because of the many new Mangave cultivars introduced by Walters Nursery. For pictures an information about these newer cultivars see our Mangave Madness Page

Information displayed on this page about Mangave 'Macho Mocha' is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.

 
San Marcos Growers closed for regular business at the end of 2025 as the property is being developed for affordable housing.
While our gates remain closed, we will open them by appointment so we can liquidate remaining plants, supplies and equipment. The plants remaining in the field are listed on our Live Inventory Page.
 
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