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Asparagaceae
Parry's Agave Flower
Agave parryi
Patience rewarded and a magnificent final act.
- Family
- Asparagaceae
- Genus
- Agave
- Native to
- Arizona, New Mexico, northern Mexico
- Bloom season
- Summer
- Type
- succulent perennial
- Height
- 30–60 cm rosette; flower stalk 300–500 cm
- Sunlight
- full sun
- Soil
- rocky, very well-drained
- Water
- very low; drought-tolerant
- Hardiness
- 5–11
- Lifespan
- monocarpic; 20–30 years to flower, then dies
Did you know
- It spends 20 to 30 years as a compact rosette, then sends up a massive flower stalk up to 5 meters tall — and dies after blooming.
- Named after Dr. Charles Christopher Parry, a 19th-century botanist who explored the American Southwest.
- Its flower stalk can grow several centimeters per day during its rapid final growth spurt.
- Native peoples of the Southwest roasted the heart of the plant in pit ovens as a sweet, nutritious food called mescal.
- It is one of the most cold-hardy agaves, surviving temperatures down to minus 20 degrees Celsius.
Color meanings
Yellow
life's crowning achievement
Red
fiery determination