Agave albopilosa
Hair-Tipped Century Plant
Item #: 9610
Zones: 8a to 10b, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?

Agave albopilosa is simply the most amazing agave species ever discovered, and one that took the succulent world by storm when it was first published in 2007. The small population of Agave albopilosa was discovered growing on a remote, nearly vertical, 3,500'-5,000' cliff in the mountains southwest of Monterrey in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. In the wild, Agave albopilosa grows with the winter-hardy Agave bracteosa, Agave victoriae-reginae, and Agave lechuguilla. At 1' tall x 20" wide, Agave albopilosa resembles Agave victoriae-reginae, which many botanists theorize was one of its ancient parents. The main difference between the two is that at agave puberty (around 3 years old) the tips of the narrow, green, upturned leaves develop little white tufts of hair. Agave albopilosa is as rare as proverbial hen's teeth since it does not usually offset and seeds have been insanely scarce. Our offering represents very limited three-year-old nursery propagated seedlings. We anticipate it could be as hardy as Agave victoriae-reginae, once it attains some size. Agave albopilosa has proven very easy to grow in containers.