Agaves at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, 2013 edition
The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (ASDM) exhibits and interprets the rich flora and fauna of the Sonoran Desert. Because it receives rain both in the summer and the winter, it is considered to be the “lushest desert on earth”[1]. The range of plants growing in the Sonoran Desert is astounding, including iconic cacti like the saguaro, but invariably I’m most drawn to agaves.
Arizona is home to 12 of the 18 agave species native to the U.S. (be sure to read this very interesting article about domestic agaves). The ASDM has them all, plus most species native to the two thirds of the Sonoran Desert that is in Mexico. The ASDM Plant Names Database lists 53 entries for agaves (38 unique species and 15 varieties and hybrids). My post has photos for 27 of them. Chances are I missed the others because they weren’t labeled and/or located in parts of the garden I didn’t explore this time.
Not every agave variety is a stunner. Some are downright weedy-looking, like Agave felgeri or Agave schottii. But many others, like Agave colorata, Agave gigantensis and Agave parryi, are truly beautiful. I’m sure you’ll find your own favorites—old and maybe even new ones.
The photos in this post are in alphabetical order so you can easily skip to a particular species that might interest you.
Agave americana var. expansa
Agave × arizonica, a naturally occurring hybrid between Agave chrysantha and Agave toumeyana var. bella
Agave aurea
LEFT: Agave avellanidens RIGHT: Agave gigantensis
Agave bovicornuta
Agave bovicornuta
Agave bovicornuta × colorata
Agave bovicornuta × colorata
Agave bovicornuta × colorata
Agave bovicornuta × colorata
Agave cerulata var. nelsonii
Agave chrysoglossa
Agave chrysoglossa
Agave colorata
Agave colorata
Agave colorata
Agave colorata
Agave colorata
Agave colorata
Agave colorata
Agave deserti
Agave deserti
Agave felgeri
Agave gigantensis
Agave gigantensis
Agave multifilifera
Agave multifilifera
Agave murpheyi
Agave ocahui
Agave ocahui
Agave parryi var. huachucensis
Agave parryi var. huachucensis
Agave parryi var. huachucensis
Agave parryi var. huachucensis
Agave parryi var. huachucensis
Agave parryi var. couesii
Agave parryi var. truncata
Agave pelona
Agave pelona
Agave pelona
Agave schottii var. treleasei
Agave shawii
Agave shawii
Agave shawii
Agave shawii
Agave shrevei var. matapensis
Agave tequilana
Agave victoria-reginae
Agave victoria-reginae
LEFT: Agave vilmoriniana RIGHT: Agave parryi
The silver-green shrub is brittlebush (Encelia farinosa).
Agave vilmoriniana
Agave vilmoriniana
Agave vilmoriniana flower stalk with live bulbils
Agave vilmoriniana flower stalk with live bulbils
Agave vilmoriniana flower stalk with live bulbils
Agave vivipara
Agave wocomahi
While the agave collection at the ASDM is noteworthy, it pales to the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. Its plant database lists 250 different agave varieties. I’ll put up a separate post or two about agaves at the Desert Botanical Garden sometime in January. In the meantime, I still have several thousand images to go through from my trip.
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I am sad that it had to end...what a fabulous visual inventory.
ReplyDeleteI'll have many more agave photos from the Desert Botanical Garden :-).
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