Coastal Agave

Description

Agave shawii is a species of monocarpic succulent plant in the genus Agave, commonly known as Shaw's agave. It is a rosette-forming plant characterized by glossy, green leaves with toothed margins. After several years of slow growth, the plant puts all of its resources to produce a towering stalk of flowers, and then dies. The death of the flowering rosette is compensated by the growth of numerous clonal pups. This species is segregated into two subspecies, one native to the coast of southwestern California and northwestern Baja California, known commonly as the coast agave, and another native to the Baja California Desert, known as the Goldman agave. For centuries, this species proved to be an invaluable source of accessible and abundant food for the indigenous peoples in the region, like the Kumeyaay, Tiipai and Paipai. After the European colonization of the Americas, the Spanish missionaries discouraged use of the agave, and moved the native peoples inland. The foliage is arranged in a rosette that measures 8 centimetres (3.1 in) to 2 metres (6.6 ft) wide. There may be numerous rosettes on top of erect to decumbent trunks that emerge from the rootstock. The foliage is glossy, colored light to dark green, and positioned in an ascending fashion. The leaves are shaped narrow to ovate, measuring 20–50 cm (7.9–19.7 in) long by 8–20 cm (3.1–7.9 in) wide, with the abaxial (lower surface) surface convex. Leaves feel thick, fleshy, and rigid, and their margins are armed with colorful and well-defined spines. The spine at the tip of the leaf measures 2–4 cm (0.79–1.57 in). This species is primarily distributed in, and near-endemic to, the state of Baja California in Mexico. It was formerly widespread along the coast of San Diego County, California, but coastal development has reduced the entire population to just two natural occurrences, of which only one is wholly natural. There is a 25 km (16 mi) north-to-south gap between the southernmost natural plants in San Diego County and the northernmost natural plants in Baja California. The coastal subspecies shawii is the taxon present in San Diego County, and ranges south to El Rosario in Baja California. At El Rosario, it is subsumed by the desert subspecies goldmaniana, which ranges from there to Santa Rosaliíta in southern Baja California.