Center Stripe Agave Thorncrested Agave

Native to Texas just in the Rio Grande Plains in South Texas, where it grows on gravelly limestone and on cliffs and rocky outcrops. Its leaves are dark green with a lighter green central stripe, and the flowers are a light gray-green to yellow. Like all agaves, it only flowers once after which the original plant dies. Typically most plants are replaced by a number of young “pups” that form around the base. It is hardy to about 10 degrees F. This is a highly variable agave in terms of the leaf color and the striping. There is also a lot of confusion in identity with another species, Agave univittata, which looks similar and comes from the same general region. Likewise there are many brilliantly colored named cultivars of lophantha like Agave lophantha ‘Quadricolor’.