The Agave pelona is indigenous only to one mountain range in Mexico. There are very few of this endangered agave left in the world 鈥� but two of them are housed at the Missouri Botanical Garden.
MoBOT is on a quest to save the endangered agave, and it鈥檚 now in the midst of a concerted effort to do that. As Senior Horticulturist Jared Chauncey explained on Friday鈥檚 St. Louis on the Air, each of its agaves will bloom just once before it dies. When it does, it鈥檚 time for scientists to spring into action, ensuring that the seeds are pollinated and can reproduce.
MoBOT has been waiting for its two agaves for decades now. But last month, the staff noticed one of the plants was flowering.
It was hard to miss.
鈥淭here was a spiky rosette, and when they flower, they send out a large shoot from the middle,鈥� Chauncey said. 鈥淎nd while the plant is only about a foot tall, this flower spike is now over 6 feet tall.鈥�
Chauncey said the plants are typically pollinated by hummingbirds or fruit bats, but at the botanical garden, it鈥檚 a different story.
鈥淲e are hand-pollinating it 鈥� we take the anthers of the pollen and pollinate it onto the female flower parts, and it will hopefully pollinate and we will get seed,鈥� Chauncey said. 鈥淎nd then we can use the seed to grow to keep the genetics of this plant in the collection.鈥�
Chauncey takes care of the arid, Mediterranean and subtropical plants at MoBOT. He said one of the agaves has been alive since the 1970s and another since the 鈥�80s, suggesting that they may be slower to bloom (and die) due to their location in a greenhouse.
Chauncey said the second plant is even older than the first and will likely flower in a few years. He suggested the flowering Agave pelona had a few more months to live.
鈥淭hey often start to slowly decline after they flower. And then, as they go through the ripening process, they'll decline further,鈥� Chauncey explained. 鈥淭hey take a little longer to die if they actually set seed, but then once they set seed, everything is done, they'll be on their last leg, and then they'll kind of just peter out.鈥� In St. Louis, it鈥檚 up to the scientists to make sure their seeds take root.
鈥�鈥� brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by and produced by , and . Jane Mather-Glass is our production assistant. The audio engineer is .
