Octopus agave bulbils – thousands of them

The November 2023 meeting of the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society (SCSS) was all about making succulent wreaths. Members brought in a large variety of succulent cuttings, mostly things like crassulas, aeoniums, as well as echeverias, graptopetalums, sedums, and hybrids thereof. However, my eyes immediately went to this: Somebody brought the flower stalk of an octopus agave ( Agave vilmoriniana ) laden with bulbils! Almost all agave species are monocarpic, i.e., they flower once and then die. To reproduce, they employ various strategies. This includes making offsets, setting seeds, or producing bulbils – plantlets emerging on the flower stalk. Pollinated flowers can turn into seeds or bulbils; sometimes you find some of each on the same inflorescence. A few agave species produce bulbils as a matter of course, others do so only when the inflorescence becomes damaged. Genetically, bulbils are 100% identical to the mother plant. In reproductive (and practical) terms, they’re a mu