Simple desert agave

Agave deserti subsp. simplex Gentry, Occas. Pap. Calif. Acad. Sci. 130: 22. 1978

Plants rarely with 1–3 suckers; rosettes usually solitary, compact. Leaves (20–)25–60 × 4.5–10 cm; blade greenish, lanceolate; margins undulate to crenate; apical spine 3–4 cm. Scape 4–6 m. Perianth tube funnelform, (3–)5–10 mm; filaments inserted above middle but well within tube. 2n = 60.

Flowering spring. Sandy to gravelly or rocky places in desert scrub and pinyon juniper woodlands; 300--1500 m; Ariz., Calif.; nw Mexico.

Variety simplex hybridizes with A. schottii var. schottii and possibly with A. mckelveyana.