Succulents and More™

In September 2024, Dan Zarrella contributed an engaging guest post on Agave utahensis in habitat and in cultivation ( see here ). Dan is back with a fascinating article on Agave utahensis clonal rings as artifacts of resource management by the Southern Paiute people of southern Nevada. Dan Zarrella lives in the Las Vegas area and has spent years exploring the Mojave Desert. His YouTube channel contains 75+ videos on Agave utahensis . In addition, he shares his field observations and his experience growing Agave utahensis on his website Mojave.lv . He also sells choice seed-grown Agave utahensis through Mojave.lv to support Project Eborispina, a long-term effort to survey and document eborispina populations in southern Nevada. To learn more about Project Eborispina, watch this video . Partially hollow Agave utahensis clonal ring in the snow Are Agave utahensis clonal rings living artifacts? by Dan Zarrella, Mojave.lv In Mexico, many of the species of agave that are used for mes...

As you know, I’m a big agave fan. Out of the 270+ agave species, Agave utahensis , especially varieties nevadensis and eborispina , are among my favorites – and highly sought after by collectors. In 2022, I had the opportunity to see both in habitat in the mountains outside of Las Vegas ( nevadensis post here ; eborispina post here ), but I’m not an expert. Guest contributor Dan Zarrella is . His enthusiasm for this species is bar none. Dan lives in the Las Vegas area and has spent years exploring the Mojave Desert. His YouTube channel contains 75+ videos on Agave utahensis . In addition, h e shares his field observations and his experience growing Agave utahensis on his website Mojave.lv . He also sells choice seed-grown Agave utahensis through Mojave.lv ( nevadensis for now, eborispina coming soon) to support his Project Eborispina, a multi-year effort to survey and document eborispina populations in southern Nevada. This is a long post, but it’s an important one because it hi...

As I mentioned in my post about Agave utahensis  var. nevadensis , seeing the two varieties of Agave utahensis  native to western Nevada—var. nevadensis  and var. eborispina —in habitat was a bucket list experience. It's one thing coming across cool plants in a botanical garden or a private collection, but something else entirely being able to study them where they grow naturally.  In the case of Agave utahensis  var. eborispina , that environment is harsh in every conceivable sense of the word. It's amazing to see how well these plants have adapted. They thrive in extreme temperatures from below 0°F in the winter to above 110°F in the summer, and they make do with very little soil, sometimes appearing to grow right out of solid limestone. Agave utahensis  var. eborispina Agave utahensis  var. eborispina  differs from var. nevadensis  in leaf color (olive green vs. blue green) and length of spines: The terminal spines of var.  eborispina...