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Agave parrasana (Cabbage Head Agave) - This is a slow growing compact Agave to 2 feet tall by about the same width - young plants are more upright but with age widen out a bit. It is usually solitary or with only a few offsets and has short broad waxy, tightly overlapping leaves that are a pale blue-gray color and have large teeth toward the leaf apex but smaller ones near their base. These teeth make striking imprints on the adjoining newer leaves' backside. When this species produces flowers, they are red in bud and open to yellow with red highlights in panicles on a tall stalk to 15-20 feet.
Plant in full sun in a well-drained soil and irrigate occasionally to rarely. Hardy to 15° F .
This plant is found naturally on limestone soils in mixed chaparral and pine-oak forests in the Parras mountains of southeastern Coahuila, Mexico at elevations from 4,500 to just over 8,000 feet. The name for the genus is one given by Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus. It comes from the Greek word 'agaue' (agauos or agavos) meaning "noble" or "splendid" and originates from Greek mythology. Agaue was the daughter of Cadmus, the king and founder of the city of Thebes, and of the goddess Harmonia. The name was first used by Linnaeus in 1753 when he described Agave americana. The specific epithet comes is a geographical reference to the location of the type species in the Sierra de Parras in Coahuila, Mexico. This species was given the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit in 2012.
We grew this nice agave from 2011 until 2014 from stock plants that came from the Huntington Botanic Garden with their accession number HBG 97485. We thank John Trager for this plant and Greg Starr of Starr Nursery for much of the information we have about it. We also grow the nice variegated cultivar Agave parrasana 'Sea Star'.
This information about Agave parrasana displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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