Posted by Paul S again on October 24, 2006, 6:34 am, in reply to "Re: Agave montana vs. A. gentryi" Both species are on that exact same mountainside where we collected the montana - all you have to do is drive up the road to find them! Agave gentryi starts at around 2200m and stops at around 2600m - pretty well exactly when montana starts. At this interface between the two, there is a population of plants that are evidently a hybrid between the two that appears to be stable, given their number and consistent looks (consistent within small variations, that is). Bizarrely I don't seem to have taken any pictures of these hybrids! I will remedy that in January. This carries on into the pure montana for a while in little enclaves, and then montana carries right on up to the top - around 3000m. Agave montana is found higher on another nearby mountain that I haven't visited, apparently up to 3400m. So all this would indicate that montana is the hardier of the two species.... ... However, if we make the assumption that all forms of the former Agave macroculmis are now Agave gentryi, then I also saw this at over 3000m at a place called Real de Catorce, a good deal further west into northern San Louis Potosi (exactly where Gentry wrote about it - nice to see the populations were still in place!) - the plants must be pretty tough to handle the temps they would see there, though I would imagine it is also a lot drier in that particular locale. My guess is that seed collected from this population would do better in the drier, cold winter/hot summer SE US states. I saw three different populations of gentryi in all and they all looked quite distinct and yet, at the same time, were all somehow recognisably gentryi. Well, once you get your eyes tuned in, anyway. At first I just stood and gawped at them.
Actually, Jan, they do share the same habitat though, in addition, gentryi is found in several other locations whilst montana is restricted to the one small spot around the Tamaulipas/Nuevo Leon border. That is one of the REALLY cool things about travelling off the beaten track in Mexico - you are constantly re-writing the literature!
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