Agave shawii ssp. shawii.
A Unique Species in Baja California
By: Antonieta Valenzuela and Sula Vanderplank
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Along the Pacific Coast and among the peninsula’s
scrub vegetation, a plant stands out: Agave shawii.
This medium-sized agave is an endemic species of
Baja California; it has a rosette of spiny leaves and
yellow flowers at the top. This species flowers only
once throughout its life, and this may even take more than 20
years.
Terra Peninsular’s logo is represented by an Agave shawii because of its traits: it is a Baja California endemic plant, it grows in
a restricted area on the coast and it is part of the habitat known as
Maritime Succulent Scrub that occurs at the southern end of the
California Floristic Province. These characteristics also make the
peninsula a globally unique natural area.
The Agave shawii is one of the most distinctive species of the
Maritime Succulent Scrub Region. This type of vegetation is found
in the southern part of the state of California, USA, but it mainly
inhabits the west coast of Baja California, between Ensenada and
El Rosario. Moreover, it is a unique habitat with a high variety of
endemic species in which succulents predominate.
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APRIL 2016
The Maritime Succulent Scrub Region is concentrated on
the southernmost region of the California Floristic Province,
and it covers most of the state of California and northwestern
Baja California. It is also one of the 34 biodiversity hotspots of
the world and one of the five Mediterranean regions on the
planet. Thus, it is of great importance for conservation.
In the region near El Rosario, where elements of the Maritime Succulent Scrub of the Mediterranean region cohabit with
elements of the desert region, the Agave shawii ssp. shawii
inhabits with another almost identical subspecies, the Agave
shawii ssp. goldmaniana, which is subtly different, being a little
taller and more robust.
Nowadays, the population of Agave shawii ssp. shawii nearly extinct in the USA. For this reason, it is of extreme importance to conserve this species in Baja California, e