"Mystery" Agave

[peterb]

Hello all- This is my first post in the forum. I am very active over at Cacti Guide and grow a lot more cacti than succulents, but I am a huge fan of Agave and just recently started puzzling through Gentry's book.

Anyway, I thought you all might enjoy taking guesses as to what this Agave is. It's a habitat photo I took recently.

(did I attach the photo correctly? The interface is unfamiliar to me).

peterb

[GermanStar]

Welcome! Beautiful Agave!

[Melt In The Sun]

Hi Peter, and welcome to the site. I saw your post over at Cactiguide and I agree with the tentative ID, but am certainly not the smartest person around here...

[cactusmcharris]

Originally Posted by Melt In The Sun

Hi Peter, and welcome to the site. I saw your post over at Cactiguide and I agree with the tentative ID, but am certainly not the smartest person around here...

I am not the smartest person here either, Peter, but possibly the most northern one. It's good to see you here and I also agree that that's a handsome Agave, but I don't know the name. Others will here, though.

[agavegreg]

Where was the picture taken?

G

Originally Posted by peterb

Hello all- This is my first post in the forum. I am very active over at Cacti Guide and grow a lot more cacti than succulents, but I am a huge fan of Agave and just recently started puzzling through Gentry's book.

Anyway, I thought you all might enjoy taking guesses as to what this Agave is. It's a habitat photo I took recently.

(did I attach the photo correctly? The interface is unfamiliar to me).

peterb

[peterb]

I could tell you, but the location might make it very easy to peg with an ID. I'll post the ID later this weekend if no one guesses it.

Peterb

[Matt Maggio]

I'm going to float sebastiana

MM

[peterb]

Nope, although coincidentally I was just studying up on sebastiana last night, as I had never heard of it before reading Gentry. What a beautiful agave!

peterb

[Matt Maggio]

Then it looks to be in Deserticolae, quite possibly avellanidens or maybe subsimplex.

MM

[peterb]

we have a winner! It's subsimplex, from the bajadas of Punto Cirio, just south of Puerto Libertad. For a long time, I had no idea what it was other than "perhaps a form of desertii." Which is sort of true enough, I guess. I hope I see these in flower some time. And I highly recommend a visit to this great area of Sonora. It is amazing habitat.

peterb

[peterb]

and here's a cool article on agave/bat mutualism:

http://www.amjbot.org/content/90/7/1016.full.pdf

peterb