Agave colorata

Beautiful succulent, very rare and difficult to find elsewhere than the areas of origin. It is a rigid rosette that can reach in nature even the metre of diameter, formed by broad and rather flat leaves, rough and lanceolate, ending in a prominent dark tip. The epidermis of A. colorata is waxy and of a beautiful glaucous bluish-green, enriched by a lovely contrast with the brownish teeth that run along its wavy margins. Like many species of Agave, also this one produces its inflorescences only when it reaches maturity and that is after about 10-15 years. If you can wait, this long-lived plant will give you splendid stems rich of flowers with tonalities that fade from red to orange, up to yellow too! Perhaps is not well known that A. colorata, among the native populations, was a plant that was fully used in all its elements: The juice of the leaves was used for food and to produce soap; the spines served as needles, while the lymph of the flowers was extracted to produce the Mescal, a famous Mexican alcoholic drink!