ISI 2019-9. Agave maximiliana Baker

This is a solitary and monocarpic agave, so, has not been readily available by vegetative propagation. Furthermore, the species is threatened by the artisanal production of the distilled spirit known as raicilla, similar to mezcal or tequila. Nevertheless, it is a horticulturally desirable plant by virtue of its medium-sized rosettes of broadly oblanceolate leaves like those of A. bovicornuta. These are lined with impressively jagged marginal spines at the tips of mammillate tubercles with a few small, interstitial spines. The species occurs on rocky mountain slopes of the Jaliscan Plateau region, including Nayarit and southern Durango, at elevations between 3,000 and 6,500', commonly in pine-oak woodland. We have partnered with the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix to conserve this and other species ex situ by initiating into tissue culture some of the Gentry collections growing at DBG. In addition to distribution through ISI, we can also use this material for long term conservation through cryopreservation, protocols for which have already been developed and implemented for several species by Raquel Folgado, Research Botanist at the Huntington. Therefore, we are now able to offer tissue cultured explants of HBG 119471, DBG 1975-0027, Gentry 23466, collected Jan 13, 1975, at 6400', a few miles east of San Juan Peyotan, Sierra de los Huicholes, Nayarit, Mexico. $8.