Agave parrasana, the cabbage head agave or cabbage head century plant,[1] is a flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae.[2] A slow-growing evergreen succulent from North East Mexico, it produces a compact rosette of fleshy thorn-tipped grey-green leaves, 60 cm tall and wide. The leaves are blue green and the thorns are red. The whole plant may reach 100 centimeters tall and wide.[3] Occasionally, mature plants produce a spectacular flower head up to 6m tall, opening red and turning yellow.[4] This signals the death of the flowering rosette. However, offsets may form and continue growing.
As it can tolerate temperatures of -12C or less, it is a popular plant to grow outdoors in a sheltered cactus garden or similar environment, and has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[5] In the US, it may be grown outdoors in USDA hardiness zones 7–10. It is susceptible to scale and chlorosis resulting from magnesium deficiency.[6]