Xeriscape Landscape Plants For The Arizona Desert Environment
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Succulents

Coastal Century Plant, Agave shawii

Coastal Century Plant, Agave shawii Flowering Photos: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. April 19, 2008.
Coastal Century Plant, Agave shawii Flowering Photos: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. April 19, 2008.
Coastal Century Plant, Agave shawii Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden. March 3, 2008.

Coastal Century Plant, Agave shawii	Coastal Century Plant, Agave shawii

Coastal Century Plant Agave shawii, Agave Family ( Agaveae or Agavaceae ), Coastal Century Plant. Also called: . Agave shawii is a perennial fleshy plant that has gray-green lance shaped leaves 4 - 8 inches wide and 16 - 30 inches long. The leaves have marginal teeth about 1/2 inch long and with spine - like tips 1 - 1/2 inches long. Coastal Century Plant grows to about 3 feet tall and after several years it produces a flower spike about 9 - 15 feet tall. Its yellow flowers open from September to May and are carried on a long stalked inflorescence that has a pyramidal arrangement to the flower clusters and produces 18 - 25 lateral branches. Height: Up to 3 feet feet tall. It also spreads about 5 to 6 feet. Flowers: A 12 - 40 foot stalk emerges from the center of the plant. Then yellow - orange flowers emerge from the inflorescence of the stalk on 18 - 25 lateral branches. Then suckers develop into new plants. Blooming Time: Phoenix Arizona, Mid March - April. It blooms only when the plant is about 15 years old. Then dies. Leaves: The leaves form a basal rosette, they grow up to 2 1/2 feet long, and nearly 8 inches wide, gray-green, lance-shaped; wider in the middle, and tapering to the tip, with dark brown, decorative teeth. They curve both, away from, and back, towards the center of the plant. Found: Nativeof Southern California, Baja California (Mexico). Elevation: 0 - 2,800 Feet. In Arizona. Habitat: It grows well in sand, sandy loam, clay and other heavy soils. It needs good drainage and aeration. It is remarkably tolerant of alkali. Cold Hardy. Miscellaneous: Maintenance: Low. Photos Taken at Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden. March 3, 2008. Flowering Photos: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. April 19, 2008.