Agavaceae - Century-plant Family, Brown and Drab Arizona Flowers, Brown and Drab Flowers, Butterfly Flowers and Plants, Conspicuous Fruit or Cones, Green Arizona Flowers, Green Flowers, Herbs and Forbs, Hummingbird Flowers and Plants, Native Wildflowers and Plants, Perennials, Pink Arizona Flowers, Pink Flowers, Protected Native Plants, Shrubs, Subshrubs, Summer Blooming Plants, Unusual Shrubs, Upland Plants

Agave palmeri – Palmer's Century Plant

Agave palmeri - Palmer's Century Plant, Palmer's Agave (green flowers)

Agave palmeri - Palmer's Century Plant, Palmer's Agave (pink flowers)

Agave palmeri - Palmer's Century Plant, Palmer's Agave (yellowish tan flowers)

Agave palmeri - Palmer's Century Plant, Palmer's Agave (fruit)

Agave palmeri - Palmer's Century Plant, Palmer's Agave (leaves)

Agave palmeri - Palmer's Century Plant, Palmer's Agave

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Agave palmeri

Common Names: Palmer's Century Plant, Palmer's Agave

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial, Evergreen

Growth Habit: Shrub, Subshrub, Herb/Forb, Unusual Shrub

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Upland

Flower Color: Light green, Yellowish, Pink

Flowering Season: Summer

Height: Leaves to 3 1/2 feet (1.1 m) tall, flower stalks to 20 feet (6.1 m) tall

Description: The 6-segmented flowers are clustered atop towering flower stalks and have yellowish or reddish anther filaments and the scent of overripe fruit. The plants die after flowering and setting seed. The leaves are in usually solitary, non-suckering basal rosettes and are glaucous bluish to greenish gray in color, lanceolate, edged with reddish, recurved, spine-like teeth, and tipped with a long, stout, dangerously sharp spine. Stabs with Agave leaves can be quite painful and bloody.

The nectar-filled flowers attract nectar-loving birds like Orioles (Icterus spp.) during the day and nectarivorous bats like the threatened Mexican Long-tongued Bat (Choeronycteris mexicana) and the endangered Lesser Long-nosed Bat (Leptonycteris curasoae yerbabuenae) during the night.

Special Characteristics

Butterfly Plant – The flowers attract large Sphinx Moths (Family Sphingidae) during both the day and night.

Hummingbird Flower – The flowers attract hummingbirds.

Legal Status – Protected Native Plant (Salvage Restricted)

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Liliopsida – Monocotyledons
Subclass: Liliidae
Order: Liliales
Family: Agavaceae – Century-plant family
Genus: Agave L. – agave
Species: Agave palmeri Engelm. – Palmer's century plant

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map
Palmer's Agave or Palmer's Century Plant (Agave palmeri)