The Arizona agave ? a species listed as endangered since 1984 ? has been confirmed to be a hybrid. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed removing it from the list of plants protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Hybrid plants ? a phenomenon common among agaves ? are not eligible for protection under the Endangered Species Act. Under the Act, it has been illegal to import, export or transport Arizona agave across state lines, or conduct interstate or international commerce or maliciously damage the plant. If delisted, the Arizona agave would continue to receive limited protection under Arizona 's Native Plant law, which requires a permit to remove plants from the wild or to sell them.
The plant was first described in 1970 as a unique species (Agave arizonica) from specimens collected in the New River Mountains of central Arizona . The 8 to14-inch diameter and 12 to 16-inch tall succulent sprouts a flower stalk up to 13 feet tall. Fewer than 100 plants are known in the wild, all in Gila, Yavapai and Maricopa counties on the Tonto National Forest and private land in chaparral and juniper grasslands.
Since the listing, a growing body of evidence has lead to the determination that the plant ? found only where the range of Toumey's agave (A. toumeyana var. bella) and the golden-flowered agave (A. chrysantha) overlap ? is indeed a hybrid of the two parent-species. Controlled experiments on the reproductive limitations of the Arizona agave conducted at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix have confirmed that the plant is a hybrid.
The Service published its proposal to delist the Arizona agave in today's Federal Register. The proposal is available at http://arizonaes.fws.gov
