Agave macroacantha (Black-spined Agave) / 10 seeds

Agave macroacantha is an attractive flowering succulent native to Oaxaca and the surrounding territory of Tehuacan in the Mexican state of Puebla. It has won the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit in the UK. Its leaf rosette is 10 to 16 inch wide and can be basal or can grow on a very short 30cm tall stem. The rosettes together form dense clumps almost 2 feet tall and 5 feet wide. Leaves are greyish green to powdery blue, succulent and up to 1.8 feel long, have spines along the edge and end in sharp brownish black spines that are up to 1.2 inches long. Buds are pinkish-red and flowers are tiny, purplish green, and grow in clusters on sturdy stems of up to 3 m (10 feet) in height.

The plant is monocarpic i.e., it dies as after it blooms, but the plant usually develops several young plants around its base that can grow as new plants.

Agave macroacantha prefers a dry, sunny and hot spot in summer and a cooler, well-lit location from early fall. Regular watering is required in the summer. Water less in the fall and minimal to no watering is needed in the winter.

Agave macroacantha is propagated via seeds. Seeds germinate in 1 to 3 months at 15 to 20-degree C and then you can grow each seedling into individual pots. After they reach 10 cm of height, you can plant them out. It is reportedly hardy to temperatures as low as 20-degree F, but most also list it as hardy only to 25-degree F. it benefits from a granulated time release fertilizer during the growing season.

Agave macroacantha is one of the main plants in the genus with which the drink ‘mezcal’ is made. This is a distilled alcoholic drink which is very popular in Mexico and is even exported. Locals harvest this plant from the wild to use it as a food and for making living fences and as an ornamental. Due to its heavy harvest for making mescal, this plant occurs only in the above-mentioned areas. The plant is declared as ‘Endangered’ in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (2019).

Agave macroacantha is virtually disease-free although can be attacked by scale insects.