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x Mangave 'Macho Mocha' (Mangave) - This rosette-forming plant grows to 4 to 6 feet wide and has thick, fleshy gray-green leaves densely covered with brown-purple spots. These spots are so thick toward the tip of the leaves that the entire surface is a brown-purple color. The thick reddish flower stalk rises from the middle of the plant much in the manner of an Agave. Plants remain solitary until flowering at which time several new plants will emerge from below the older rosette.
Plant in full sun to light shade and water infrequently to regularly. Has been reported to be hardy to 9° F by Tony Avent in North Carolina.
Mangave 'Macho Mocha' was a 2004 Yucca Do Nursery introduction that is thought to be either an intergeneric hybrid between Manfreda variegata and Agave celsii [A. mitis] or a tetraploid mutation of Manfreda variegata. It originated from seed collected by Carl Schoenfeld while on a plant exploration trip into Mexico with the seed off of a plant of Manfreda variegata at a location where there was also Agave celsii growing. Yucca Do Nursery dubbed this plant a "Mangave" - to our knowledge this was the first time this name had been applied to this intergeneric hybrid.
In the treatment in "Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants; Moncotyledons" edited by Urs Eggli (2001) Joachim Thiede, the author on the Agavaceae, combined Polianthes (Tuberose) and Manfreda into Agave, thus making the Mangave actually an interspecific Agave hybrid - for now we will leave it as x Mangave. We grew this plant at our nursery from 2005 until 2020 and discontinued it only because of the many new Mangave cultivars introduced by Walters Nursery. For pictures an information about these newer cultivars see our Mangave Madness Page.
This information about Mangave 'Macho Mocha' 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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