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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'.
Information displayed on this page about Agave parrasana 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.
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