|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Category: Succulent |
| Family: Agavaceae (now Asparagaceae) |
| Origin: Mexico (North America) |
| Evergreen: Yes |
| Bloomtime: Infrequent |
| Synonyms: [A. nickelsiae, A.victoriae-reginae forma] |
| Height: 1-2 feet |
| Width: 1-2 feet |
| Exposure: Full Sun |
| Summer Dry: Yes |
| Irrigation (H2O Info): Low Water Needs |
| Winter Hardiness: 10-15° F |
| May be Poisonous (More Info): Yes |
|
|
|
|
Agave ferdinandi-regis (King of the Agaves) - A stunning small slow-growing agave to 18 inches tall by as wide with an open rosette of stout triangular blue-green leaves having narrow longitudinal white bud imprints that usually form a triangle shape. The margins of the leaves are dark reddish brown and spineless terminating at the blunt leaf tip in a stout spine of the same color. Plant in full sun in a well-drained soil. Very little to no irrigation required. Hardy to around 10° F. This plant was considered to be a form or synonym of Agave victoriae-reginae in Joaquin Thiede's treatment published in Urs Eggli's Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants; Monocotyledons but in comparison with typical Agave victoriae-reginae it has a more open rosette with fewer and larger leaves, less bud imprinting and instead of silver colored margins has dark reddish brown edges. It also often has multiple small spines subtending the large terminal spine, a feature we have never seen on A. victoriae-reginae. The Agave victoriae-reginae race comes from the Mexican States of Coahuila, Durango and Nuevo León though the plants usually associated with the A. ferdinandi-regis form come from the Saltillo area in Coahuila. The image used in Howard Scott Gentry's “Agave of North America” for Agave victoriae-reginae, taken at Saltillo with Agave scabra, is of this form and Gentry notes that the neotype of Agave victoriae-reginae is from this area (Neotype Gentry, Barclay & Arguella 20043 DES, MEXU, US. 12-16 miles NE of Saltillo, Coahuilla, along the road to Monterey, June 10-July 5, 1963; elevation 4,000-5,000 feet, shrub and succulent desert on limestone). From a nearby site just northeast of Ramos Arizpe at 5100 feet in elevation, at a location sometimes referred to as “the chicken ranch”, collections were made of at least two naturally occurring hybrids with this "ferdinandi-regis" plant as one parent and Agave scabra (now A. asperrima) and Agave lechugilla as the other. The popular Agave 'Sharkskin' is one such hybrid with Agave asperrima – likely collected multiple times from this location. To further confuse the issue the species name of this plant is often spelled as “fernandi-regis” as this was how Gentry listed it (as a synonym with Agave victoriae-reginae) but Alwin Berger originally described the plant as Agave ferdinandi-regis in 1915 monograph “Die Agaven”. The most recent news is that in 2011 a team of Mexican botanists (Gonzalez-Elizondo, M.S.; Gonzalez-Elizondo, M.; Lopez-Enriquez, I.L., Resendiz-Rojas, L.; Tena-Flores, J.A. and Retana-Renteria, F.I.) revised this complex to now recognize four distinct taxa (3 species and one subspecies) with this form reverting back to the Agave nickelsiae, a name it was described as by the French botanist Robert Roland-Gosselin (1854-1925) in Revue Horticole 67: 579-580 in 1895. This name does seem to have priority since it predates Berger's name "ferdinandi-regis" by 20 years but we will let botanists continue to argue the validity of the various names and will continue to refer to this stately plant as Agave ferdinandi-regis until such time as another name becomes widely recognized. This plant is also sometimes marketed under the name Pinguino but we have no idea where this name comes from. Our plants from seed collected off of a plant that bloomed in the Santa Barbara garden of the late Jim and Sally Prine in March 2006 but sadly we no longer grow this plant.
This information about Agave ferdinandi-regis displayed is based on research conducted in our library and from reliable online resources. We will also note observations that we have made about it as it grows in the gardens in our nursery and those elsewhere, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others, and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
|
| |
|
|
|
