The diminutive A. toumeyana subsp. bella has become a popular representative of this species in potted collections. This offering of the typical subspecies bears fewer leaves per rosette but is also ornamented with white markings and marginal fibers. Though larger than subsp. bella, subsp. toumeyana is still one of the smaller agaves with rosettes under 30 cm in diameter and clumping to form dense mounds to 60 cm across. Therefore, it has potential for use in a rockery or smaller residential landscape. The epithet commemorates James W. Toumey who was also honored in the cactus genus Toumeya by Britton & Rose, whose work benefited from Toumey’s fieldwork and collections of cactus specimens. HBG 90209, plants grown from seed collected in 1999, 11.3 km E of Tortilla Flats in the Superstition Mts., AZ. $5.
Published in the Cactus and Succulent Journal, Vol. 76 (2), March - April, 2004