Can Anyone Help with Identifying this species

[hermosadude]

Would appreciate any help you may provide in identifying this species.

[WayneByerly]

that's just the flower ... can you post a picture of the rest of the plant?

[hermosadude]

Sorry for the delayed response, but I have been out of the country. Here is a shot of the plant - you can see the stalk coming out. The stalk is probably 10 feet high.

[WayneByerly]

I have been able to find, at cactguide.com, one species that looks much like the plant you have.

Agave ferdinandi-regis.

If you want to look for yourself, the full URL for this "find" is:

http://www.succulentguide.com/cactus/?g ... andi-regis

The bad news is that I do not think that your plant is long for this world as Agave plants are monocarpic. Meaning that they flower, produce seeds and then die.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.


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[teo]

Also it looks a bit like Agave victoriae-reginae (more common species)

[WayneByerly]

I'm afraid that now that I have seen pix of both ID's, that I have to agree with "teo". The pictures of the A. victoriae-reginae that I have seen as a result of a google search DO look a bit more globular ... more like the picture you posted "hermosadude".

I think my initial impression was mostly based on the appearance of the bottom-side of the leaves. I saw NO images of a flower of my original id. Also, in most of the additional pix I've seen since seeing "teo's" ID, the leaf tips of the A. ferdinandi-regis seem to have a greater propensity to wicked spines.

I have seen id's done by "teo" before, and have NO problem deferring to his judgement, based on his past performance and the additional pix I have seen since seeing his ID.


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[DaveW]

As Wayne says moncarpic literally means a single fruiting, or a plant that dies after flowering. In the case of that Agave it is because the flower is terminal, being produced from the growing point on the rosette not as a side branch, therefore that rosette can grow no further. With some monocarpic plants if you are lucky they may produce offsets, but if not need to be set from seed again.

See:-

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 3017331584

[WayneByerly]

DaveW

Thanks for the link. The article that this link leads to says that not all Agave are monocarpic. Which is something that I did not know. The article states that "Most Agave species are polycarpic clonal plants with a strong branch hierarchy."

It's a truly interesting article, if slightly technical, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the Agave life/reproductive cycle or to those who simply have a love for learning new things.

Thanks again DaveW for the fascinating didactic link.


EOM() .

[DaveW]

Afraid Other Succulents are not my field Wayne, being a confirmed Cactophile. I suppose it depends how people define Monocarpic? With many I gather it is if the head or rosette that produces the flower then dies, since the flower arises from the terminal growing point. Seemingly producing offsets or underground runners can vary species to species. It is obvious the confusion if plant itself dies and underground runners produce new plants some distance away in the field, therefore people may have thought in the past they were seedlings and not part of the original plant now dying?