Agave angustifoliaHaw.

century plant

WFO wfo-0000754134 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Agave angustifolia, photographed by Reid Hardin
fig. a Reid Hardin, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-01-18 / obs. 176422922
Agave angustifolia, photographed by Jake Rehage
fig. b Jake Rehage, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 163033097
Agave angustifolia, photographed by Cenoteando
fig. c Cenoteando, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 140692027
Agave angustifolia, photographed by Sebastián de Jesús Herrera Buenfil
fig. d Sebastián de Jesús Herrera Buenfil, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 138780851
Agave angustifolia, photographed by Sebastián de Jesús Herrera Buenfil
fig. e Sebastián de Jesús Herrera Buenfil, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 138344296
Agave angustifolia, photographed by Viken
fig. f Viken, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 134046545
Agave angustifolia, photographed by Reid Hardin
fig. g Reid Hardin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 107678823
Agave angustifolia, photographed by Axel Ruiz
fig. h Axel Ruiz, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 73459534

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 13 botanical countries

Regions where Agave angustifolia is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panamá Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestBelizeCosta RicaEl SalvadorGuatemalaHondurasNicaraguaPanamá
Native distribution of Agave angustifolia, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Belize BLZ SOUTHERN AMERICA
Costa Rica COS
El Salvador ELS
Guatemala GUA
Honduras HON
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 44 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Agave aboriginum Trel.
  • Agave angustifolia var. nivea (Trel.) Gentry
  • Agave breedlovei Gentry
  • Agave bromeliifolia Salm-Dyck
  • Agave costaricana Gentry
  • Agave cuspidata Baker
  • Agave densispina J.F.Cels
  • Agave deweyana Trel.
  • Agave donnell-smithii Trel.
  • Agave elongata Jacobi
  • Agave endlichiana Trel.
  • Agave excelsa Jacobi
  • Agave exselsa Baker
  • Agave flaccida Haw.
  • Agave flaccida Salm-Dyck
  • Agave flavovirens Jacobi
  • Agave houlletii Jacobi
  • Agave ixtlioides Hook.f.
  • Agave jacquiniana Schult. & Schult.f.
  • Agave kirchneriana A.Berger
  • Agave lespinassei Trel.
  • Agave letonae F.W.Taylor ex Trel.
  • Agave letonae var. marginata Trel.
  • Agave nivea Trel.

and 20 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol AGAN4. public domain. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.