Agave utahensis subs. kaibabensis

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Since 4 Aug 2013

Agave utahensis subs. kaibabensis (McKelvey) Gentry
Agaves Cont. N. Amer. 259 1982
Family: AGAVACEAE

Agave utahensis subs. kaibabensis Photo by: Raimondo Paladini

Origin and Habitat: Agave utahensisSN|581]]SN|581]] ssp. kaibabensis is found on the high Kaibab Plateau around the Grand Canyon in northern and western Arizona.
Altitude range: 700-2500 metres above sea level.
Habitat and ecology: This species grows on alcareous or sandstone outcrops in desert scrub, pinyon-juniper, or adjacent conifer woodlands.

Synonyms:

Agave utahensis subs. kaibabensis (McKelvey) Gentry

Agave kaibabensis McKelvey
Agave utahensis var. kaibabensis (McKelvey) Breitung

See all synonyms of Agave utahensis

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Accepted name in llifle Database:
Agave utahensis subs. kaibabensis (McKelvey) Gentry
Agaves Cont. N. Amer. 259 1982
Synonymy: 3

Agave utahensis subs. kaibabensis (McKelvey) Gentry

Agave kaibabensis McKelvey
Agave utahensis var. kaibabensis (McKelvey) Breitung

Accepted name in llifle Database:
Agave utahensis Engelm. in S.Watson
Botany [Fortieth Parallel] 497. 1871; vol. 5
Synonymy: 8

Agave utahensis Engelm. in S.Watson

Agave haynaldii var. utahensis (Engelm.) A.Terracc.
Agave utahensis subs. utahensis (Engelm.)
Agave utahensis var. utahensis (Engelm.)

Agave newberryi Engelm.
Agave utahensis var. discreta M.E.Jones
Agave utahensis var. scaphoidea (Greenm. & Roush) M.E.Jones

Agave scaphoidea Greenm. & Roush

Accepted name in llifle Database:
Agave utahensis var. eborispina (Hester) Breitung
Cact. Succ. J. (Los Angeles) 32: 22. 1960
Synonymy: 2

Agave utahensis var. eborispina (Hester) Breitung

Agave eborispina Hester

Accepted name in llifle Database:
Agave utahensis var. nevadensis Engelm. ex Greenm. & Roush
Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 16: 390, tab. 32. 1929
Synonymy: 2

Agave utahensis var. nevadensis Engelm. ex Greenm. & Roush

Agave nevadensis (Engelm. ex Greenm. & Roush) Hester

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Common Names include:
ENGLISH: Kaibab Plateau Century Plant

Description: Agave utahensisSN|581]]SN|581]] ssp. kaibabensis is an uncommon form of the Utah Century plant (Agave utahensisSN|581]]SN|581]]) and is the largest and more robust growing subspecies of this group. It forms attractive solitary rosettes with long, stout, narrow bright green, leaves and grey-white teeth. The plant eventually blooms with very tall flower spikes up to 4.5 or more meters tall. In bloom, the flowering stalks can reach to nearly 6 meters in height.
Stem: Nearly stemless or forming a short trunk with age.
Rosettes: (20-)45-60 cm tall, and 40-60(-100) cm in diameter, usually solitary with numerous leaves.
Leaves: Mostly 30-50 cm long, 3-5.5 cm wide, blade lanceolate to long-acuminate, light to bright green, younger leaves often pruinose-glaucous and firm-fleshed. Marginal teeth (2-)3-5 mm long, 1-4 cm apart, blunt, deltoid, little curved, grayish to white. Apical spine stout, subulate, (2-)3-4 cm long, flat to hollowed above, roundly angled below, grey to white, long decurrent to upper teeth. Cultivated plants often develop longer leaves, up to 55 cm long.
Inflorescence: Narrowly paniculate 3.5-5 m tall, stout, scape 4-6 cm in diameter, part-inflorescences many, slender (1-)7-10 cm long with 4-12 clustered flowers.
Flowers: as in ssp. utahensis but larger, (2.6–)2.9–4.3 cm long. Ovary 1.5–2.9 cm.
Blooming season: Flowering mid spring-early summer.
Chromosome number: 2n = 60.

Subspecies, varieties, forms and cultivars of plants belonging to the Agave utahensis group

Agave utahensis is variable over its range and comprises two subspecies, subsp. kaibabensis and subsp. utahensis, the latter of which comprising at least 2 varieties, var. nevadensis and var. eborispina. These varieties are now regarded by some botanists as mere ecotypes or geographical forms, so now they are all synonymized with Agave utahensis, but still considered distinct by collectors for their peculiar traits.

Agave utahensis Engelm. in S.Watson: (subsp. utahensis)
Agave utahensis var. eborispina (Hester) Breitung: has the longest spines of any, often cream or white in colour. Forms small clumps with only a few stems. Distribution: Nopah Mountains
Agave utahensis subs. kaibabensis (McKelvey) Gentry: is an attractive solitary form with bright green leaves and grey-white teeth. Leaves 3–5.5 cm wide; rosettes 4–10 dm wide; flowers (2.6–)2.9–4.3 cm long. Know only from northern arizona.
Agave utahensis var. nevadensis Engelm. ex Greenm. & Roush: smaller than type, has broader, bluish green leaves with strong marginal teeth. It suckers slowly eventually forming a large matt of spines where you can't tell which leaf belongs to which plant.

Bibliography: Major references and further lectures
1) "Agave utahensis ssp. kaibabensis" in: High County Gardens web: https://www.highcountrygardens.com/perennial-plants/agave/agave-utahensis-ssp-kaibabensis
2) Howard Scott Gentry "Agaves of Continental North America" University of Arizona Press, 01 February 2004
3) "Agave utahensis subsp. kaibabensis" in Flora of North America, Vol 26, Page 451 retrieved on 10 October 2017 from http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242102131
4) Urs Eggli, Leonard E. Newton "Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names" Springer Science & Business Media, 29 June 2013

Cultivation and Propagation: These slow growing plants are quite cold hardy where winters are dry.

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