Agave Utahensis Var Nevadensis vs Var Eborispina

There are four types of agave utahensis: ssp kaibabensis (which grows primarily in the area of the Grand Canyon), ssp utahensis (which grows in southern Utah, northern Arizona, southern California and southern Nevada), var eborispina, and var nevadensis. Eborispina and nevadensis only grow in Nevada and California, primarily in limestone soils around the Spring Mountains near Las Vegas.

Map of agave utahensis taxa from Howard Scott Gentry’s Agaves of continental North America.

According to a map of collected specimens in Howard Scott Gentry’s seminal book Agaves of Continental North America, eborispina is the northernmost variety, while nevadensis occurs to the south of eborispina.

Agave utahensis var Eborispina in the Spring Mountains near Las Vegas

Both eborisina and nevadensis varities have longer spines than the other two agave utahensis taxa, and because of this are the types most coveted by collectors around the world. Of the two, eborispina has longer and more elaborate spines, often with marginate spines, where the white of the terminal spines extends as a border down to the first few rows of teeth.

Agave utahensis var Nevadensis, also in the Spring Mountains near Las Vegas

Nevadensis tends to have a more glaucous blue coloration compared to eborispina’s greener leaves, likely due to the fact that it tends to grow in higher elevations with more UV stress. Nevadensis also more commonly has wavy spines, compared to the straight, or bent spines of eborispina, although both varieties can have spines of all kinds of shapes.