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Agave celsii var. albicans - This medium sized clump-forming agave has rosettes up to 2 feet tall and wide with fleshy 6 inch wide by 2 foot long, glaucous gray leaves that gracefully curve upwards. The leaves appear unarmed but have a soft terminal spine and minute, backward curving, brown spines on the edge of the leaves.
Plant in full sun or light shade. This plant is considered tender but other forms withstood the 1990 frost in our garden when it dropped to 18° F and Mary and Gary Irish note in their book "Agaves, Yuccas and Related Plants" that Agave celsii survived temperatures to 12° F in eastern Texas.
The native habitat of this Agave is thought to be along the eastern rim of the Barranca de Metztitlan in Hidalgo, although Howard Gentry noted in his "Agaves of Continental North America" that the plants in cultivation seem more robust than any seen in the wilds. This is one of the most beautiful clump forming Agave. Dense stands can be seen in the Huntington Botanic Garden. This form has wider leaves than our narrower named form with Agave celsii var. albicans 'San Ysidro Lane' but is slightly narrower and more variable than a form from the Berkeley Botanic Garden that we call with Agave celsii var. albicans 'UCB'.
The "Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants" includes the most recent treatment on Agave by Dr. Jochim Thiede of the Botanic Garden at the University of Hamburg (Botanishes Institut und Bitanischer Garten, Universität Hamburg). In this work Dr. Thiede lists Agave celsii and its varieties as Agave mitis and notes that Howard Gentry misapplied the name Agave celsii (J. Hooker) to this species. Hooker named this plant in 1856 and noted that it came from the garden in Paris, France of M. Cels as an unnamed Agave. Hooker later named it A. celsii in honor of Cels after in flowered at Kew. Bernd Ullrich in "Observations sur Agave mitis" in Succulentes 16(1) in 1993 however listed Agave celsii var. albicans as Agave mitis var. albidior and this name is now accepted today though we continue to use the name most familiar so not to confuse our customers and our own staff.
This information about Agave celsii var. albicans 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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