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Products > Agave potatorum 'El Camarón'   Agave potatorum 'El Camarón' - El Camarón Butterfly Agave     [2nd Image] Habit and Cultural Information Category: Succulent Family: Agavaceae (now Asparagaceae) Origin: Mexico (North America) Evergreen: Yes Flower Color: Yellow Bloomtime: Infrequent Synonyms: [A. scolymus, A. verschaffletii] Height: 1-2 feet Width: 2-3 feet Exposure: Full Sun Summer Dry: Yes Deer Tolerant: Yes Irrigation (H2O Info): Low Water Needs Winter Hardiness: 25-30° F May be Poisonous  (More Info): Yes Agave potatorum 'El Camarón' (El Camarón Butterfly Agave) A particularly nice form of Agave potatorum with a symmetrical rosette to 2 to 3 feet tall by as wide with heavy broad gray upright and slightly recurved leaves that have closely spaced small mammilate margins bearing red teeth with a reddish brown terminal spine. When mature a flower spike rises 10 to 20 feet bearing light green flowers tinged with red and subtended with red bracts. This agave rarely offsets so, after maturing, which in our experience begins to occur when plants are reach about 10 years of age, it will flower (usually during the fall) and then unfortunately the entire plant declines and dies. Plant in full sun with little irrigation required in coastal gardens but provide some supplemental irrigation in hotter inland gardens. Winter hardy to around 25 degrees. The species ranges through the semi-arid highlands between 4,000 and 7,000 feet in Oaxaca and southern Puebla. This very nice selection comes from just east of the town of 'El Camarón', south of Oaxaca City. Seed collected of this plant was collected in 2006 and yielded one plant that we cored and propagated and ten years later we are able to sell this very fine plant that we have named after location from where it came from. It differs from typical Agave potatorum in having a rosette that is less open and with thicker whiter gray leaves that are a bit more upright and then reflexed and with smaller mammilate projections along the margin.  The information on this page is based on research conducted about this plant in the San Marcos Growers library, from online sources, and from observations made of the crops growing in our nursery, plants in the nursery's garden and those in other gardens where we may have observed it. We also have incorporated comments received from others and welcome getting feedback from those who may have additional information, particularly if this information includes cultural information that would aid others in growing Agave potatorum 'El Camarón'.     [MORE INFO]