Tina wrote:Here's one I wouldn't mind people having a good look at, it was sold to me as agave utahensis 'nudum', so spineless but is it what it say's. There are a few hybrids now like sharkshin & sharkskin shoes- that look similar but this does look right to me but....what do you think ?
Hi Tina,
That's a very nice looking plant. I'm not familiar with the A. utahenis "Nudum", and haven't looked it up yet, but in just viewing your picture, it is quite believable and feasible for that plant to be a mutant, non-marginal spined selection of one of the utahensis subspecies. The rosette itself does have the dense, many-leaved utahensis look, and the leaves featuring the triangular, keeled shape.
As an example of some wild variation within A. utahensis Eborispina, here's one acquired that was grown from seed collected in Peach Springs, Arizona. To me, it looks nothing at all like the other Eborispina individuals that I like so much.
As far as the hybrids you mentioned, I'm not seeing even remotely much resemblance to the Sharkskin hybrids.
A. Sharkskin, and A. Sharkskin Shoes..."Sharkskin has been around a long time, and is a naturally occurring hybrid of A. nickelsiae X A. victoriae reginae, the name given by Huntington Botanical Gardens. "Sharkskin Shoes" is the Yucca Do selected clone Tissue Cultured offering of the same hybrid. I have both, but I can't honestly say there's much of a difference, if any, which makes sense since they are actually the same hybrid.
Here's one of my several of each, this one acquired as "Sharkskin Shoes" ...the leaves do look shoe-like, I'm sure they would be tough but I doubt very comfortable.
The hybrid features the more open leaved nature of A. nickelsiae, with the rosette reminiscent of A. v-r, and seems to be a larger plant than either of the two parent species, as judged from my own plants.
By the way, thanks for mentioning about putting the plant under the bench. Although it seems counter-intuitive, it does strike me that the most variegated my A. titanota plants appear, is in the winter, when light is weaker. In the summer, the variegation on a couple of the plants seems to be virtually non-existent. I'm definitely going to explore more dark lighting options than I've tried, at least temporarily, and see the effect. It can't get worse variegation-wise than it already is.
, do you provide any special lighting conditions to maintain the variegation, or would you say that what some of us seem to experience as lack of stability in the variegation is clone-dependent? Any insight you are willing to share would be appreciated.
