Species library › Agave › Agave ovatifolia
Succulents Well documented

Agave ovatifolia

Whale's tongue agave is a large, solitary, blue-grey rosette with broad cupped leaves. It comes from a few limestone ranges in Nuevo León. It is one of the more cold-hardy large agaves when kept dry, and it needs full sun and sharp drainage.

Agave ovatifolia
Photo: Raúl Ernestoo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day Cool-growingTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Dry airBand in Plantistry
Light Full sunDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
Expects a seasonal restGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

Grows on stony limestone slopes, in open oak–pine woodland and grassland, alongside Yucca rostrata and cacti.

The literature gives 1100–1300 m. The records carry too few elevations to check this.

Nuevo LeónMexico Northeast

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

Grow Agave ovatifolia? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.

Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, unmodified.