Agave 'Blue Emperor'

[leo25]

Is on of the different clones of the hybrid macroacantha x victoria reginae.

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[GreekDesert]

Thank you for showing that interesting hybrid. A few years ago i have bought a no name agave in a market, it
looks like a hybrid between Agave victoria-reginae and macroacantha Verde but i am not sure if they are the real
parents...

[leo25]

Is very similar to Agave "Blue Emperor" but mine is blue and your is green but I think your parents plant are the same, all the clones are not equal, with the same hybridization.

[Geoff]

mass production, Rancho Soledad Nursery

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[leo25]

I found one that want to be mediopicta .

[DesertDweller]

Closest I have ever found to the "stock photo" from Rancho, with the stumpy, black terminal spines. This one was even marketed as "Blue Emperor (PPAF)" so whoever is putting them out certainly seems convinced it is the real deal. Thoughts?

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[Melt in the Sun]

Looks like it from here too!

[mcvansoest]

Hard to see this as much different from what was on the market as A. 'Royal Spine' way before 'Blue Emperor' appeared.

[Melt in the Sun]

Looks bluer, shorter spines...I'd love to grow them side by side. 'Royal Spine' is really apple-green. On the old brown forum Kelly G. said the species crossed are the same (v-r and macroacantha) but the crosses were done by different people at different times, and using different individuals of those species.

[DesertDweller]

Also, you must forgive the coloration in some of those photos, somewhat shaded on the porch. The shots with the offset, especially the first one, are more indicative of the actual color. My 'Royal Spine' are also very much apple green in comparison.

[mcvansoest]

OK, just a quick quiz then: here are pictures of two plants, one each of 'Royal Spine' and 'Blue Emperor' - that is how they came labeled. Want to tell me which is which?

pic 1

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pic 2

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[Gee.S]

Royal Spine is below. Much, much greener, and narrower leaves. They look nothing alike to me.

[DesertDweller]

Royal Spine is below. Much, much greener, and narrower leaves. They look nothing alike to me.

In addition to the vivid apple green coloration on mine, I also notice almost no marginal spines on very small 'Royal Spine' plants, whereas both 'Blue Emperor' and 'Little Shark' seem to be awful toothy when small.

[Gee.S]

Well yes, then there's that. I may not be able to tell these blue hybrids apart to save my life, but by gosh I can tell a green one from a blue one.

[DesertDweller]

Well yes, then there's that. I may not be able to tell these blue hybrids apart to save my life, but by gosh I can tell a green one from a blue one.

Not the best pic, but here's the green vs. blue as best I can represent it. You can also see the toothless 'Royal Spine' offsets here vs. the gnarly spinage shown above.

'Royal Spine' on the left, allegedly 'Little Shark' on the right:

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Ideally, I want to grow one of the purported 'Blue Emperor' above beside these and compare the trio, since they're more or less the same size.

[mcvansoest]

Yeah, based on what MitS wrote regarding the color, that would appear to be the obvious conclusion. However, top plant came to me as Agave 'Royal Spine' probably some time around 2012 or so from eBay (pretty sure it came from SoCal). It was greener when I just got it, but never apple green. It gets about 2PM-5PM full sun in summer, tree and bush shade the rest of the time.

The bottom plant I just bought 3 weeks ago as Agave 'Blue Emperor' from a BBS.

Based upon the characteristic of short terminal spines you might flip the IDs, given that the plant in the second picture has way shorter terminal spines.

Now I am fine with those IDs being completely wrong, would not be the first time plants are sold under the wrong ID and am sure it won't be the last time. These are attractive plants that don't get too big if you keep the offsets under control and they take a decent to good amount of full sun, so they are fun plants to grow.

However, looking critically at the pictures in this gallery entry it does make me wonder if all of those are indeed 'Blue Emperor'? None are really all that blue...

[Gee.S]

Plant in the top pic is absolutely not Royal Spine. Can't see much of the lower pic plant other than color, but color looks spot on. BTW, Royal Spine takes full sun here. I would compare it to A. macroacantha in that regard, i.e. looks good in full sun, looks better with a little PM break.

[mcvansoest]

Fine by me. It helps me clear up the doubt I had about that ID in the first place.

It will be interesting to see how plant #2 develops as it adjusts to growing in AZ conditions.

[Gafoto]

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Here is the 'Blue Emperor' I bought as a seedling from Mountain Crest Gardens in 2021. It's slowly developed into quite a nice specimen. This plant is a little bit bluer than the photo lets on. Grows a bit faster than most victoria-reginae but with a nicer form (and less vicious terminal spines) than straight macroantha in my opinion. A really nice selection.