''Agave bracteosa'' is a species of

agave ''Agave'' (; ; ) is a genus of monocots native to the hot and arid regions of the Americas and the Caribbean, although some ''Agave'' species are also native to tropical areas of North America, such as Mexico. The genus is primarily known for ...

sometimes known as spider agave or squid agave. It is native to the

Sierra Madre Oriental The Sierra Madre Oriental () is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico. The Sierra Madre Oriental is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that f ...

México Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

(spanning the states of

Tamaulipas Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entiti ...

Coahuila Coahuila (), formally Coahuila de Zaragoza (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza), is one of the 32 states of Mexico. Coahuila borders the Mexican states of N ...

and

Nuevo León Nuevo León () is a state in the northeast region of Mexico. The state was named after the New Kingdom of León, an administrative territory from the Viceroyalty of New Spain, itself was named after the historic Spanish Kingdom of León. With a ...

), where it prefers well-drained and shaded or semi-protected locations on cliffs and rocky slopes from 900 to 1,700 meters. Although it occupies a small range, it is not considered to be threatened. Small among the agaves, its green and succulent leaves are long and

lanceolate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

, 50–70 cm long and 3–5 cm at the base, where they are the widest. Compared to the larger, more formidable agaves, they have minute

serration Serration is a saw-like appearance or a row of sharp or tooth-like projections. A serrated cutting edge has many small points of contact with the material being cut. By having less contact area than a smooth blade or other edge, the applied pr ...

s (teeth) along the margins but no teeth, nor terminal spine, at the leaf tip. The leaves have a tendency to curl somewhat, in a fashion reminiscent of the octopus agave '' A. vilmoriniana''. The inflorescence spike is also short, at 1.2–1.7 meters, and its upper-third is densely covered with white or pale-yellow flowers. The flowers are distinctive, in that

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s arise from a disk-shaped receptacle rather than the usual tube. The

stamens The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

are quite long.

Howard Scott Gentry Howard Scott Gentry (December 10, 1903 – April 1, 1993) was an American botanist recognized as the world's leading authority on the agaves. Gentry was born in Temecula, California. In 1931 he received an A.B. (bachelor's) degree in vertebrate z ...

, ''Agaves of Continental North America'' (University of Arizona Press, 1982) pp. 91-93 Gentry defines a group "Choritepalae" that includes ''A. bracteosa'' along with ''

Agave ellemeetiana ''Agave'' (; ; ) is a genus of monocots native to the hot and arid regions of the Americas and the Caribbean, although some ''Agave'' species are also native to tropical areas of North America, such as Mexico. The genus is primarily known for i ...

'' and ''

Agave guiengola ''Agave guiengola'', common name "Creme Brulee Agave", is an evergreen plant belonging to the family Asparagaceae. This species is endemic to the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. It grows on limestone slopes, at an elevation of about above sea level. I ...

'', and states that the

discoid Discoid may refer to: * Disk (mathematics), the region in a plane enclosed by a circle Medicine * Furosemide, a medication sold under the trade name Discoid * Discoid meniscus, a human anatomical variant * Discoid lupus erythematosus, a chroni ...

receptacle and unarmed leaves are different enough from other agaves to justify placing ''A. bracteosa'' and ''A. ellemeetiana'' into a separate genus, but that characteristics of ''A. guiengola'' link the group to the rest of ''Agave''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q140482 bracteosa Endemic flora of Mexico Flora of Coahuila Flora of Nuevo León Flora of Tamaulipas Flora of the Sierra Madre Oriental Garden plants of North America