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Agave potatorum
This species is highly ornamental but quite variable in
form, and many varieties have been described.
Some are very small (called Butterfly Agave and highly prized in Japan)
and others medium-sized.
They grow very symmetrically, staying smaller in containers. |
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Description: A. potatorum is
a small Agave, growing
solitary or slowly
clumping, that forms an open symmetrical succulent
rosette, up to 60 cm tall, 60 m in diameter. But the size of the clones
on the market is quite variable and may be anywhere between 10 and 90 cm
in diameter when fully grown-up.
Leaves: Blue-grey to silvery-grey, broad, 25-40 cm long, slightly
deflexed back near the tips that terminate in a distinctive, often
twisted or slightly wavy, reddish, yellowish or dark brown spine
up to 2,5 long. The short marginal spines are on pronounced
tubercle-like prominences. The leaves also have distinct showy
bud-imprints.
Flowers: Long spikes that rise up to 3 to 5 m bearing light green
flowers tinged with red and subtended with red bracts
Plant with sinuous leaf margins and with teeth atop
of outward-projecting bumps are often called by the old name of
Agave verschaffeltii.
Agave potatorum is included in the group Hiemiflorae.
As a general rule, plants in this group have relatively short lateral
branches on the inflorescence and tight ball-like clusters of flowers.
They typically are winter-flowering, although Agave potatorum is
a little earlier than most, with a September-to-December peak flowering
time.
Cultivation: Agave
potatorum is a relatively easy-to-grow species, though not as
cold-hardy as many of the more northerly-occurring species (Winter
hardy to around -3° C degrees). Suited for
light shade to
full sun, but better with some shade in
summer. It needs a very well-drained, soil. It
grows fairly fast in summer if provided with copious water, but allow to
dry thoroughly before watering again (the more water and fertilizer this
plant gets, the faster it will grow). During the winter months, one
should only water enough to keep the leaves from shrivelling.
It does great in containers or in the ground. Plants cultivated
outdoors are more drought tolerant and can take some heat and full sun.
Remove eventual suckers to show the beauty and form of the individual
rosette.
Propagation: By seeds or by
suckers that are found growing around the base of the plant,
however this
species rarely offsets many plants after maturing,.
This begins
to occur when they are as young as 10 years old.
They will flower (usually
during the autumn) and the entire plant declines and dies.
But many of the clones actually in cultivation are
more prolific, and suckers are readily available. The basal suckers can
be removed in spring or summer, letting the cuttings dry for a few days
before inserting in compost.
Photo of conspecific taxa, varieties, forms and cultivars of
Agave potatorum:
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Cultivation
and Mail Sale 
