The thick, rigid leaves are triangular, slightly concave, and a deep blue-green to olive-green color. Its defining ornamental features are the prominent reddish-maroon to dark brown margins and sharp teeth on young leaves, which age into an eye-catching pale grey or white, contrasted by a prominent terminal spine.
Like most agaves, it is monocarpic—living for years before producing a single, massive flower spike and then dying. In spring, mature specimens send up a towering, unbranched stalk (2.5 to 4 meters tall) bearing dense clusters of greenish-purple to maroon tubular flowers.
