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Agave potatorum is one of Oaxaca’s signature agaves, found at many localities in the state and in neighboring parts of Puebla. It makes a beautiful garden plant in areas warm enough for it to grow outdoors, and it is also used in its native area for the making of mescal, a distilled alcoholic beverage.
Although A. potatorum is most often found in nature as a single plant, occasionally plants produce offsets and form a small clump. Mature plants vary in size from 1½ to 3 feet in diameter, and the leaf color ranges from green to bluish-white. The leaves widen from the base to about ¾ of the way out, and then narrow to the stout terminal spine. The leaf edges are typically crenate, with prominent teeth atop the bulges, especially on the part towards the tip. On new leaves, the terminal spine and teeth are often brown or orange-brown, but as the leaf ages they become gray.
Agave potatorum is included in the group Hiemiflorae, whose members are found in southeastern Mexico and Central America. They typically are winter-flowering, although Agave potatorum is a little earlier than most, with a September to December peak flowering time. As a general rule, plants in this group have relatively short lateral branches on the inflorescence and tight ball-like clusters of flowers. Most populations of A. potatorum adhere to this, but in some forms the side branches are so reduced that the flower clusters are clumped right along the stalk.
The flower stalk on this species is relatively slender (for an agave), and may wiggle a bit rather than being completely straight. It normally rises to a height of between 10 and 18 feet. The flower clusters are small and greenish-yellow in color, often with a purplish-red tinge at the bud stage.
The accompanying photos show a somewhat atypical specimen of the species, with leaves pointier than usual, and the flower stalk with its small clusters of flowers.
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