Agave deserti

Engelmann

Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis 3: 310. 1875.

Illustrated
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 26. Treatment on page 458. Mentioned on page 446, 455.

Plants acaulescent or short-stemmed, sparsely or prolifically suckering, trunks 0.2–0.4 m; rosettes solitary or numerous, 3–7 × 4–8 dm, compact to rather open. Leaves ascending, widest at base, (20–) 25–70 × 4.5–10 cm; blade grayish, gray or blue-glaucous, yellowish green, or greenish, occasionally cross-zoned, linearlanceolate to lanceolate, rigid, adaxially concave, abaxially convex; margins straight or undulate to crenate, armed, teeth single, weakly attached, well defined, of 2 types, 2–3 mm or (5–) 6–8 mm, (1–) 1.5–3 cm apart; apical spine light or dark-brown to gray, subulate to acicular, 2–4 cm. Scape 2–6 m. Inflorescences paniculate, not bulbiferous, open; bracts persistent, triangular, 8–15 cm; lateral branches 6–15, slightly ascending, comprising distal 1/5–1/4 of inflorescence, longer than 10 cm. Flowers 12–48 per cluster, erect, 3–6 cm; perianth yellow, tube shallow, campanulate or funnelform, 3–10 × 9–15 mm, limb lobes wilting soon after anthesis, spreading, equal, 13–20 mm; stamens long-exserted; filaments inserted unequally above middle or at rim of perianth-tube, erect, yellow, 2.5–3.5 (–4.2) cm; anthers yellow, 13–21 mm; ovary 1.6–4 cm, neck slightly constricted, 4–6 mm. Capsules short-pedicellate, ovoid to oblong or obovoid, 3.5–5.5 cm, apex beaked. Seeds 5–6 mm.

Discussion

Varieties 3 (2 in the flora).

Selected References

None.

Key

1 Perianth tube campanulate, 3–5 mm; filaments inserted at top of tube; plants sparsely to prolifically suckering; rosettes numerous. Agave deserti var. deserti
1 Perianth tube funnelform, (3–)5–10 mm; filaments inserted above middle but well within tube; plants rarely with 1–3 suckers; rosettes usually solitary. Agave deserti var. simplex

"thick" is not a number. "thin" is not a number."widest" is not a number."dm" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property."dm" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property.

... more about "Agave deserti"
longitudinal +
1.3 cm13 mm <br />0.013 m <br /> (2.1 cm21 mm <br />0.021 m <br />) +
width +  and length +
glandular-pubescent +  and glandular +
papillate +
linear +  and oblong or deltate +
dark-brown +  and gray +
subulate +  and acicular +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br />) +
James L. Reveal +  and Wendy C. Hodgson +
Engelmann +
4.5cm;10cm +
armed +  and filiferous +
cross-zoned +, greenish +, yellowish green +, gray +  and grayish +
blue-glaucous +
convex +, concave +  and lanceolate +
short to long +
persistent +
reflexed +, erect +  and ascending +
triangular +
8 cm80 mm <br />0.08 m <br /> (15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br />) +
umbel-like +
short-pedicellate +
ovoid +  and oblong or obovoid +
3.5 cm35 mm <br />0.035 m <br /> (5.5 cm55 mm <br />0.055 m <br />) +
fibrous-rooted +
sw United States +  and nw Mexico +
3.5 cm35 mm <br />0.035 m <br /> (4.2 cm42 mm <br />0.042 m <br />) +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br /> (3.5 cm35 mm <br />0.035 m <br />) +
broadened +
3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br /> (6 cm60 mm <br />0.06 m <br />) +
loculicidal +
oblong +  and ovoid +
open +  and not bulbiferous +
1/5 +  and 1/4 +
10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br /> (?) +
pseudopetiolate +, sessile +  and simple +
20 cm200 mm <br />0.2 m <br /> (25 cm250 mm <br />0.25 m <br />) +
evergreen +
25 cm250 mm <br />0.25 m <br /> (70 cm700 mm <br />0.7 m <br />) +
1.3 cm13 mm <br />0.013 m <br /> (2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br />) +
dentate +, serrulate +  and entire +
undulate to crenate +  and straight +
fleshy +, firm +  and rigid +
constricted +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (?) +  and 0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (?) +
cylindrical +, ovoid +  and 3-angled +
1.6 cm16 mm <br />0.016 m <br /> (?) +  and 4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (?) +
succulent +
not +  and articulate +
umbel-like +
semisucculent +
Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis +
open +  and compact to rather +
200 cm2,000 mm <br />2 m <br /> (600 cm6,000 mm <br />6 m <br />) +
globose +, obovoid +  and flattened +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br />) +
Illustrated +
semiwoody +
long-exserted +
branched +, , +  and unbranched +
aboveground +
3 +  and 1 +
papillate +
exserted +  and included +
subulate +
Agave deserti +
species +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br />) +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +
20 cm200 mm <br />0.2 m <br /> (40 cm400 mm <br />0.4 m <br />) +
shallow +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
funnel +  and campanulate +
9mm;15mm +
short-stemmed +  and acaulescent +
plant +  and suckering +
polycarpic +  and monocarpic +
small;gigantic +
petal-like +