Agave

Agave titanota is a medium-sized agave described by Howard Scott Gentry in 1982, endemic to a small area on the border of Oaxaca and Puebla in Mexico. It usually forms a solitary, open rosette of rigid, lanceolate leaves 50 to 66 cm long that are glaucous, chalky white in color, with gray to chestnut-brown marginal teeth and a stout terminal spine 4 to 6 cm long. The species name comes from the Greek titanos, meaning chalk, in reference to the leaf color. Like most agaves it flowers once, producing a spike-like inflorescence about 3 m tall with pale green flowers, after which the rosette dies. Green, broader-leaved plants from the Sierra Mixteca (FO-076) once grown under this name were described as a separate species, Agave oteroi, in 2019. The species is listed as threatened under Mexico's NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, with habitat loss and collection of seeds and plants for trade noted as threats.