Agave x nigra | Sharkskin Agave
€37,10
Agave × nigra hort.
🌱 Morphology
A hybrid with a compact and highly architectural habit, forming an open rosette approximately 50–70 cm in diameter. The leaves are thick, rigid, and lanceolate-triangular, greyish-green to dark greyish-blue in color, with a leathery surface that is rough to the touch. The margin is practically unarmed and features a fine, dark violet trim. Each leaf ends in a sturdy black or blackish-purple terminal spine, one of its most distinctive traits. It can produce basal offsets and form small clusters over time.
🌍 Distribution, habitat, and family
No original wild population is known with certainty. It is considered a hybrid of likely natural origin related to northeastern Mexico, subsequently widely distributed in cultivation. It has been primarily associated with Agave nickelsiae × A. asperrima. It belongs to the Asparagaceae family, Agavoideae subfamily.
❄️ Temperature · USDA Zone 8b
It tolerates minimum temperatures down to −8 ºC when kept dry and with well-acclimatized specimens. Resistance increases when the substrate remains completely dry during cold spells.
☀️ Lighting
It requires full sun or extremely intense lighting. As a guideline during active growth, a DLI PAR of 20–30 mol·m⁻²·day⁻¹ is recommended. High radiation favors the greyish-blue coloration and keeps the rosette compact.
💧 Growth cycle and irrigation
Winter dormancy. During winter, it is recommended to keep it practically dry, especially at low temperatures. In spring and summer, it can be watered deeply, allowing the substrate to dry out completely before watering again. It tolerates drought better than excess moisture, especially during the cold period.
🌸 Flowering
Flowering occurs after many years and produces a long floral stalk that can reach about 4 m, with yellowish flowers. Like other monocarpic agaves, the flowering rosette dies after blooming, although it may have produced offsets beforehand.
🌿 Nutrition
During active growth, Desert CHOICE® Succulents is recommended, formulated with a high content of potassium and assimilable calcium. It is not recommended to use Desert CHOICE® Flowering for Agaves.
This is an inimitable xerophyte grown in Madrid in a technological square pot and with the substrate activated with mycorrhizal fungi and biofungicides.
40 cm bowl and M 14x14 pot
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