AGAVE nigra

Very elegant species of the genus Agave, with a contained and slow development, easy to cultivate and of North American origin. It has a truly architectural look, it has a few broad and fleshy leaves, erect and short, strongly keeled towards the apex, shaded between green and grey-blue, without thorns on the edges, where however there is a thin blackish edge, and ending with a single large black spine: arranged in a circular way to form a large rosette, when fully developed they can grow 50-cm tall. The unpredictable flowering is truly majestic and spectacular and probably the name of the genus "Agave" comes from this characteristic, it derives precisely from a Greek term that means "noble or famous": a stem of few meters suddenly sprouts and grows visibly from the heart of the leaves, it has numerous yellow-greenish flowers at the top, followed, after pollination, by fruits full of scaly black seeds.

Place it in full sun and in a poor, stony, but above all well drained soil. Resistant to saltiness of coastal areas as well as to periods of prolonged drought, it however requires a sheltered location or possible shelter in areas characterized by intense and lasting winter cold. In spring it may be useful to free the plant from old, dry or damaged basal leaves and on the occasion also remove, if present, the young agaves sprouted around the base. Its small size even in its mature stage make it suitable to vases and containers on balconies and terraces; in the open ground it will live very well in association with other cacti and succulent plants, helping to create a scenario with an exotic flavor.