Agave macroacantha Zucc. , also known as the Black-spined Agave is a medium sized agave that forms dense clumps to 60 cm tall by 1.5 m wide composed of very regular leaf rosettes of a bluish grey colour that can be basal or can grow on a very short stem. Leaves are succulent, narrow sword-shaped blue-grey or greyish green and up to 35 cm long at a maximum, ending in sharp, contrasting, black spines at the tips. Flowers are small, purple-tinged green with a fuzzy interior, growing in bunches on sturdy stems of up to 3 m in height,though it has been reported that the age of the plant needs to be 15 years or better to flower. In the wild it is a very variable plant, with some populations having large, jet-black terminal spines, some having red-brown spines, some with small spines, some large.
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Genus name comes from from Ancient Greek Ἀγαυή (Agauḗ, “Agave”), from ἀγαυός (agauós, “noble, illustrious”).
Agave macroacantha
Agave macroacantha is ca. 40 cm tall and comes in a ø 22 cm pot.