PlantLife Online

Plant Detail

Agave potatorum

Scientific name	Agave potatorum
Common name	Butterfly Agave
Type	Succulents & Cacti
Variety	Evergreen
USDA Zone hardiness	9a - 11+
Exposure	Full sun
Height	1 to 2'
Spread	2 to 3'

A smaller growing solitary agave from the semi-arid highlands between 4,000 and 7,000 feet, it has broad gray leaves that form in an open symmetrical rosette. When mature a flower spike rises 10 to 20 feet bearing light green flowers tinged with red and subtended with red bracts. This agave rarely offsets so after maturing, as young as 10 years old, it will flower usually during the fall and the entire plant declines and dies. Plant in full sun with little irrigation required in coastal gardens but provide some supplemental irrigation in hotter inland gardens.