It is a species that forms dense colonies of clones and is difficult to find it growing alone. It is a plant without a stalk, with light green to yellow-green leaves forming a rosette. Leaves end in a dark-colored spine and its margins are fibrous.
Individuals can grow up to 50 cm high and 40 to 50 cm in diameter, whereas the whole colony may form an irregular area of several meters wide.

The reproductive stalk reaches 1.5 meters long and, like other agaves the plant dies shortly thereafter. It seems like its main reproductive systems is by vegetative ways, that is, the underground growing of new plants (Figures 4 and 5). This species is distributed in different localities of the Sonoran Desert, although only two small populations have been found at El Plomito, making this species the rarest agave in the reserve. It is found in canyons over not so rocky and shallow soils.

This plant’s common name is “amole” in reference to a cosmetic product made from its roots. Its importance lies on its great soil-retention capacity and the humus production of the big colonies after its death.