Agave salmiana
Agave salmiana (also known as maguey pulquero and green maguey) is a species of the family Asparagaceae, native to central and southern Mexico. It is also reportedly naturalized in South Africa, Italy and Spain, specially in the Canary Islands. This species, also called "Agave of Salm" or "Salm-Dick", is dedicated to the German prince and botanist Joseph zu Salm-Reifferscheidt-Dyck (1773-1861). Description. "A. salmiana " presents a spiral-shaped rosette with large flared and erect leaves. These leaves are thick, dark green with a large point at the tip and strong spines on the edges. When  a leaf has unfolded, it leaves an imprint on the leaf underneath. Like most agaves, the species is monocarpic, that is to say it only flowers once and then dies. This flowering occurs after 15 to 25 years producing a vertical floral stem, typically up to long and bearing greenish-yellow flowers. The largest specimens have been significantly taller. One specimen growing at the Strawberry Canyon Botanical Garden on the campus of U. C. Berkeley, Berkeley, California in 1974 produced an inflorescence with a total height of 52 feet (16 m) of which the scape or peduncle was about 39 ' 4" (12 m) and the panicle "per se" was 13 feet (4 m). Hermann J.H. Jacobsen states that the inflorescence of "A. salmiana" has reached an overall height of 62 feet (19 m), making the inflorescence of "A. salmiana" the tallest of any known species of plant. Old plants reach 1.8 m in height and the leaves form a rosette 3.6 m in diameter. The variety "A. salmiana" var. "ferox" is often encountered in cultivation. The epithet "ferox" is due to the hard and long (up to 8 cm) spines. Distribution. Originally from southern and central Mexico, it was introduced  into gardens with a Mediterranean climate in Europe and sometimes escaped into the wild, thus becoming naturalised in some parts of southern Europe. Cultivation. Cultivation is easy in a well-drained sandy soil with sunny exposure. For a pot culture, it requires a container of very large size to remain in an harmonious appearance. It can be used to stabilise a slope. It can withstand a light frost if it is completely dry. It is multiplied more easily by planting shoots than by seedlings.