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| Category: Succulent |
| Family: Agavaceae (now Asparagaceae) |
| Origin: Mexico (North America) |
| Evergreen: Yes |
| Flower Color: Yellow |
| Bloomtime: Infrequent |
| Synonyms: [Agave attentuata ssp. dentata] |
| Height: 2-3 feet |
| Width: 3-4 feet |
| Exposure: Cool Sun/Light Shade |
| Irrigation (H2O Info): Medium Water Needs |
| Winter Hardiness: 25-30° F |
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Agave pedunculifera - A graceful plant that forms mostly solitary rosettes to 4 feet wide with broad lance-shaped olive to bluish-green soft leaves that recurve back. It is very similar to Agave attenuata but less upright, only forms a trunk with considerable age and has leaves that have small soft teeth (minutely denticulate) along the leaf margins with a narrow pointed tip that appears sharp, but is soft and bends easily. Plant in full sun to shade in a well-drained soil with regular to occasional irrigation. Should prove hardy to around 28 °F but further testing is required. This plant comes from the Mexican states of Sinaloa, Durango, Nayarit and Jalisco, where it can be found growing along sheer cliff faces of rocks that are of volcanic origin. We first admired this plant in the Santa Barbara garden of Jeff Chemnick, where it was growing in the shade of a Dracaena draco. Our plants from seed provided to us by Brian Kemble of the Ruth Bancroft Garden and from plants we received from Greg Starr of Starr Nursery in Tucson Arizona. This plant was first described under this name in 1920 by the American botanist, entomologist and explorer William Trelaese, who later became the director of the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis. It is most closely related to Agave attenuata, from which it differs in being more acaulescent (lacking a stem or trunk) and having small teeth on the leaf margin as compared to Agave attenuata which holds its rosettes of smooth margined leaves on long heavy stems that go both upright and outward to form a large clump. Agave pedunculifera also differs in having a more erect inflorescence unlike Agave attenuata, which is commonly called the foxtail agave for the way the inflorescence arches over. Agave pedunculifera is also related to Agave vazquezgarciae, from which it differs by having shorter inflorescences, smaller flowers and broader and softer leaves without a stout terminal spine, and Agave ellemeetiana, a plant that we also grow but that has shorter, broader and harder green leaves with finer denticulate leaf margins. The German botanist Bernd Ullrich regarded Agave attenuata and Agave pedunculifera to be part of the same variable complex and reclassified Agave pedunculifera in 2006 as the infraspecific taxa, Agave attenuata subspecies dentata, but we continue to list it under the name we received it until such time as this name becomes more widely used.
This information about Agave pedunculifera 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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