A new species described by Cabral, Villareal and Estrada in Act. Bot. Mexicana 80: 51-57 (2007). It belongs to the subgenus Littaea and family group Striatae. It grows in the Sierra Madre Oriental. A distinguishing feature is a ring of hairs growing near the tip of each leaf, below the terminal spine. 
   
© Ismael Cabral
A close relative of agave angustiarum belonging to the genus Littaea and subgenus Marginatae and described in 2007 by Chazaro, Valencia and Vazquez. It was originally named agave colimillensis. It grows on virtually unreachable vertical cliffs and is endemic to the barranca of Colimilla and Rio Verde, Jalisco. It does not produce offsets or bulbils.
 
 
 
Newly described by Vazquez in 2007. It was found in Tequila, Jalisco and with the stiff unarmed leaves is thought possibly to be the long lost agave bakeri.
 
(photo from Nick Macer)
 
Described by Lode and Pino in 2007 in Cactus Aventures (January 2008). The type plant is to be found in Peru but these plants have also been observed in Bolivia,Columbia and Ecuador. It would appear that in the past they have been mistakenly identified as agave americana or agave americana v. expansa. One of the characteristics of this plant is the inflorescence which is bent and grows almost horizontally in a comma shape.
 
    
Habitat photos from Peru by Helmut Wendenburg © 2008
Discovered in 2004 and subsequently described by Chazaro and Jimeno-Sevilla. It is found in a small area near Cordoba in the state of Veracruz in Mexico. Although abundant in the locality it has a very restricted geographical distribution. It belongs to the subgenus Littaea and the family group Polycephalae. It's closest relative is agave pendula.
 
A new species described by Garcia-Mendoza, Jacques-Hernandez and Salazar Bravo in the Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas 1 (1):79-84,2007.
It was found in 2003-04 in the Sierra de San Carlos region, Taumalipas in Mexico. It belongs to the Marginatae group of the subgenus Littaea and is similar to agave X glomeruliflora (Berger) but is generally a larger plant than X glomeruliflora with larger and more numerous leaves.
 
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A new species from Oaxaca described by Garcia-Mendoza in Acta Botanica Mexicana 91:71-93 (2010). This is accompanied by a revision of the potatorum complex in the group Hiemiflorae. The habitat is alongside agave potatorum and seemanniana in the mountains of Mixteca Alta in Oaxaca, potatorum extending northwards into Puebla. Gentry had described agave seemanniana as growing in Chiapas and extending southwards into Guatemala,Nicaragua and Honduras. The plants growing in Oaxaca now considered by Garcia-Mendoza to be agave seemanniana had been assigned by Gentry as agave potatorum,emphasising how closely related they are.
The new species differs from agave potatorum in the shape of the inflorescence and minor leaf differences.
Agave nussaviorum coexists with A.convallis(?kerchovei); A.atrovirens; A.salmiana and A. angustifolia.
 
 
The above notes apply also to v. deltoidea, which is distinguished by the larger deltoid shaped leaves.
It's habitat is also different, being at a higher altitude and consisting mainly of volcanic rock.
 
           
Jos van Roosbroeck collection
A new species of agave has been described in SIDA Vol 20 ( 2 ) pages 495-499 in November 2002. The authors are Greg Starr and Jose Villareal.
The plant originates from the Sierra de Lampazos in northern Nuevo Leon. It belongs to the subgenus Agave and the group Parryanae. It is related to A. havardiana and A. parrasana.
It is considered that this plant is the same as collected and distributed previously by Mrs Anna Nickels as A. noah, which was never properly described or published but Trelease in 1911 treated it as a synomym of A. wislizenii. A.wislizenii in turn was originally considered synonymous with A. parrasana but subsequently Ullrich in 1992 argued that it was actually a form of A. parryi.
Description: Agave ovatifolia is solitary (non-offsetting) with a hemispherical rosette reaching anywhere from 2-5 feet tall by 3-6 feet across. When grown hard, the plant will stay on the smaller end while those grown with ample moisture will attain maximum size. The common name, Whale's Tongue comes from the short, wide, distinctively cupped leaf blade. Marginal teeth are small, and the dark grayish black terminal spine is about 1 inch long. The paniculate inflorescence is 10-14 feet tall and consists of several side branches, each densely clustered with large, greenish yellow flowers
Habitat and Distribution: Agave ovatifolia is found in the sierras in northeastern Mexico. It occurs at elevations from 3,700-7,000 feet.
 
© 2003 Greg Starr
 
 
A new subspecies of agave parviflora is described by Starr & van Devender in Cactus and Succulent Journal, 83(5):224-231. 2011, published by Cactus and Succulent Society of America. it is distinguished from subspecies parviflora & flexiflora by a larger leaf size and more densly crowded flower stalk. It was found growing east of Yecora in south eastern Sonora.
 
© 2011 Greg Starr & Tom Van Devender
 
A new species of agave is described in Brittonia: vol 55, no 3, pp. 240-244 ( 2003 ). The authors are Pablo Carrillo-Reyes and Raymundo Ramirez-Delgadillo from the University of Guadalajara and Rito Alvina from the University of Sinaloa. The species belongs to the group Striatae of the subgenus Littaea and comes from Jalisco and Sinaloa in western Mexico. It is related to agave dasylirioides and agave petrophila.
 
   
Habitat pictures from Jalisco, México
These photos are by courtesy of and strictly the property of Pablo Carrillo-Reyes
First collected by Vazquez-Garcia & Chazaro-Basanez in 2010 this new species was found in the municipalities of Mexticacan and Canadas de Obregon in the Los Altos region of Jalisco, western Mexico. The area is close to the Rio Verde and threatened by the El Zapotillo dam project. It's flowering features place it in the group Ditepalae and there are morphological similarities with agave wocomahi and agave durangensis.
A new species from northeastern Baja California described by R.H.Webb and J.M.Salazar-Ceseña in Brittonia, v. 63 ( 203-210); 2011.
This solitary species is placed in the group Deserticolae and it's closest relatives appear to be agave moranii and agave desertii v. simplex.
It has a very restricted habitat on monzogranite and adjacent colluvial slopes in the Sierras Cucapá and El Mayor.
 
A large,robust new species has been described in 2004 by Miguel Chazaro-Basanez and J. Antonio Vazquez-Garcia from the University of Guadalajara and Yalma Luisa Vargas-Rodriguez of Louisiana State University. The plant is solitary, non suckering with dark green cross banded leaves. It is endemic to western Jalisco and has been placed in the Marmoratae species group of subgenus Agave. It's closest relative is Agave marmorata.
It's local name is maguey relisero and it is used in the manufacture of a type of mescal called raicilla ( also known as ximat ), which is an alcoholic tequila like beverage manufactured mainly from Agave maximiliana in the rural highlands of western Mexico. It was the examination of wild populations of this maguey relisero that led to the realisation that these plants were not identifiable with any currently known species.
 
( from the Jos van Roosbroeck collection )
 
This new species was discovered and presented as such in 2002 by Miguel Chazaro-Basanez and Oscar Valencia Pelayo from the University of Guadalajara. It would appear that this plant had previously been wrongly identified as Agave pedunculifera by a number of various authors.
This non suckering species is found only on the northern slopes of Sierra Manantlan in southern Jalisco,western Mexico. It belongs to the Amolae species group of subspecies Littaea. It's closest relative is Agave pedunculifera from which it differs in having larger, firmer leaves, a larger terminal spine plus larger flower spikes and flower parts.
 
( from the Jos van Roosbroeck collection )