Agave attenuata
Encyclopedia
Agave attenuata is a species of agave
Agave
Agave is a genus of monocots. The plants are perennial, but each rosette flowers once and then dies ; they are commonly known as the century plant....

 sometimes known as the "lion's tail", "swan's neck", or "foxtail" for its development of a curved stem, unusual among agaves. Native to the plateau of central Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, as one of the unarmed agaves, it is popular as an ornamental plant in gardens.

The stems typically range from 50 to 150 cm (20–60 in) in length, and eventually old leaves fall off, leaving them naked and visible. The leaves are ovate-accuminate, 50–70 cm (20–28 in) long and 12–16 cm (5–6 in) wide, pale in color, ranging from a light gray to a light yellowish green. There are no teeth, nor terminal spines, although the leaves taper to points that fray with age. The inflorescence is a dense raceme
Raceme
A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...

 2.5 to 3 meters (8 to 10 ft) high, with greenish-yellow flowers.

The original specimens were sent to Kew
Kew
Kew is a place in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in South West London. Kew is best known for being the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens, now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace...

 by the explorer Galeotti
Henri Guillaume Galeotti
Henri Guillaume Galeotti was a French-Belgian botanist and geologist of Italian parentage who was born in Paris. He specialized in the study of the family Cactaceae....

 in 1834, from an unspecified location in central Mexico. More recent study has reported it from Jalisco
Jalisco
Jalisco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Guadalajara.It is one of the more important states...

 east to Mexico
Mexico (state)
México , officially: Estado Libre y Soberano de México is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of the United Mexican States. It is divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Toluca de Lerdo....

, in small colonies at elevations of 1900 to 2500 m (6,233.6 to 8,202.1 ft), but there have been few sightings, suggesting this agave is rare in the wild.

Synonyms include:
  • Agave cernua Berger 1915
  • Agave glaucescens Hook. 1862
  • Agave pruinosa Lem. ex Jacobi 1865
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