Plant: perennial herb; Rosettes caespitose, ca. 0.6-1.2 m high, 0.8-1.4 m broad Leaves: numerous, 50-80 cm long, 6-10 cm wide, linear-spathulate, broadest just above middle, short-acuminate, ascending, firm, thin, shallowly concave towards apex, thickish and convex towards base, easily cut, light glaucous green to yellowish-green, often with light cross-zoned patterns, the margins undulate; teeth small, 3-4 mm long, mostly porrect to leaf edge to upwardly flexed, mostly 1-2 cm apart, dark brown to black or gray; interstitial teeth absent; terminal spine short, thick, 12-20 mm long, conical, dark brown to pruinose gray, decurrent 3.4-5 cm down to uppermost teeth Inflorescence: with scape 3-4 m tall, narrowly paniculate, compact, of 10-16 short, ascending lateral branchlets in upper 1/4 of flowering stalk, the stalk thickish, green Flowers: in congested umbels, thick, stout, 51-75 mm long; tepals persistently erect, slightly clasping filaments, leathery, unequal, cream, the outer ones 15-19 mm long, 5-7 mm wide, with roughened, thick, brownish hooded tip, the inner ones 14-17 mm long, 4-5 mm wide; filaments (33-)45-50 mm long, inserted unequally, (6.5-)8-12 mm above base of tube, cream or pale yellow, the anthers (16-)22-26 mm long, yellow; ovary (18-)22-40 mm long, with a scarcely narrowed neck 0.5-3(-5) mm long, pale cream-green, waxy, the style 3.4-5 cm long when stigma is receptive, cream-yellow; floral tube deep, 14-20 mm long, (11-)14-19 mm broad, slightly bulging at base of tepals, pale cream-green Fruit: capsules, 5-6.9 cm long, 2-2.8 cm broad, narrowly obovate to oblong or ovate-oblong, long stipitate and beaked, bulbils always produced on pedicels; SEEDS thin, (7-)9-11 mm long, 6-7 mm broad Misc: -Usually in close proximity of major drainage systems on open hilly slopes or alluvial terraces in desert scrub with pre-Columbian agricultural and settlement features, having been cultivated by the Hohokam; 400-900 m (1350-2950 ft); Mar-Jul References: Hodgson, Wendy. 1999. Agavaceae. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. 32(1).