Agave shawii is a species of monocarpic succulent plant in the genus Agave, commonly known as Shaw's agave.[4][5] It is a rosette-forming plant characterized by glossy, green leaves with toothed margins. After several years of slow growth, the plant puts all of its resources to produce a towering stalk of flowers, and then dies. The death of the flowering rosette is compensated by the growth of numerous clonal pups. This species is segregated into two subspecies, one native to the coast of southwestern California[6] and northwestern Baja California, known commonly as the coast agave, and another native to the Baja California desert, known as the Goldman agave.[7]
For centuries, this species proved to be an invaluable source of accessible and abundant food for the indigenous peoples in the region, like the Kumeyaay, Tiipai and Paipai. After the European colonization of the Americas, the Spanish missionaries discouraged use of the agave, and moved the native peoples inland.[8] Further development of the agave's habitat by American settlers contributed to the dwindling population of the species. Only two small populations are left within the political boundaries of the United States,[2] one with only a single individual. In Mexico, it is still abundant but threatened by coastal development. Subspecies shawii is designated as an endangered species by the California Native Plant Society and the IUCN.[9][10] The plant is named for Henry Shaw, the founder of the Missouri Botanical Garden.[11]
^Vanderplank, S. (2019). "Agave shawii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T115690981A116354473. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T115690981A116354473.en. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
^Engelmann, Georg. Transactions of the Academy of Science St. Louis 3:314, t. 2-4. 1875.
^Clark, K.B.; Dodero, M.; Chavez, A.; Snapp-Cook, J. (2008). "The threatened biological riches of Baja California's Colonet Mesa" (PDF). Fremontia. 36 (4): 3–10.
^"Agave shawii var. shawii Calflora". www.calflora.org. Retrieved 2022-02-04.
^Rebman, Jon P.; Roberts, Norman C. (2012). Baja California Plant Field Guide. San Diego: Sunbelt Publications. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-916251-18-5.
^Wilken, Michael A. (2012) An Ethnobotany of Baja California's Kumeyaay Indians. Retrieved 13 October 2021
^León de la Luz, J.L. & Vanderplank, S. 2020. Agave shawii subsp. shawii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T125136787A125136804. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T125136787A125136804.en. Accessed on 03 February 2022.
^"Agave shawii var. shawii". rareplants.cnps.org. California Native Plant Society, Rare Plant Program. Retrieved 3 February 2022 – via Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California (online edition, v9-01 1.0).
^Starr, Greg. Agaves: living sculptures for landscapes and containers. Timber Press, 2012.
Agaveshawii is a species of monocarpic succulent plant in the genus Agave, commonly known as Shaw's agave. It is a rosette-forming plant characterized...
ISBN 3-8001-5072-7 "Agave attenuata". "Agave Blue Flame — GDNC Nursery". The hybrid was created in LA, California. Its parents, Agaveshawii[,] is native to...
British Columbia to California. The larvae have been recorded feeding on Agaveshawii, and Salix lasiolepis. mothphotographersgroup Natural History Museum...
habitat The flower A budding flower Flora of the maritime succulent scrub: Agaveshawii Dudleya Acalypha californica "Bergerocactus emoryi". NatureServe. Arlington...
California. Examples of succulents in this ecoregion include: Shaw's agave (Agaveshawii), coastal dudleya (Dudleya caespitosa), golden cereus (Bergerocactus...
arenaria, and Niebla effusa in a low mixed succulent and thorn scrub of Agaveshawii, Dudleya ingens, Ferocactus spp. Mammillaria dioica, Frankenia palmeri...
facing slopes and ridgetops, and it usually grows in association with Agaveshawii, Rosa minutifolia, Euphorbia misera, and Ambrosia chenopodiifolia. Other...
Science of St. Louis. Vol 3, 1878, S. 370–371, (online). The Flowering of AgaveShawii. In: Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis. Vol 3, 1878...
Acorns were a staple of the Kumeyaay diet, and made acorn mush they called shawii, which could be used in dough to make bread by grinding with a mano and...
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