Botanical classification: xMangavetimes xMangavehybrid.

Variety denomination: ‘Maverick’.

STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES UNDER 37 CFR 1.77(b)(6)

The first non-enabling public disclosure of xMangave‘Maverick’ was on Mar. 1, 2021 with a brief description and photo on a website operated by Walters Gardens, Inc. This was followed by a brief description and photograph in the “Walters Gardens 2021-2022 Catalog” which was first distributed on May 21, 2021. Information for this website and catalog was obtained from the inventor. The first disclosure of the claimed plant, in the form of a sale, is planned to be made by Walters Gardens, Inc. on Feb. 28, 2022 to Legacy Gardens, LLC. All plants and information on ‘Maverick’ have been provided by the inventor. No plants of xMangave‘Maverick’ have been sold, in this country or anywhere in the world, nor has any disclosure of the new plant been made, more than one year prior the filing date of this application, and such sale or disclosure within one year was either derived directly or indirectly from the inventor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the new and distinct xMangaveplant, xMangave‘Maverick’ hybridized on Oct. 17, 2014 by the inventor at a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Mich., USA as a cross between the proprietary unreleased hybrid known only by the breeder code xMangave11-2-4 (not patented) as the female or seed parent and xMangave‘Bloodspot’ (not patented) as the male or pollen parent. Through trials at the same nursery the plant was referred to by the code 15-34-23. The new plant has been successfully asexually propagated initially by division of offsets in 2018 followed by shoot tip tissue culture at the same nursery in Zeeland, Mich. These asexual propagation systems have been found to produce stable and identical plants that maintain all the unique characteristics of the original plant in successive generations.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

xMangave‘Maverick’ differs from its parents as well as all otherManfreda, Agaveand xMangaveknown to the applicant. The most similar known xMangavecultivars known to the inventor are: ‘Blazing Saddles’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 31,274, ‘Fiercely Fabulous’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 33,166, ‘Inkblot’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 29,431, ‘Moonglow’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 29,195 and ‘Thunderbird’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 31,248.

‘Blazing Saddles’ has a smaller habit with narrower leaves that are more densely spotted with reddish coloration. ‘Fiercely Fabulous’ has broader leaves that are more upright in habit, or gray-green color with burgundy spotting and larger teeth. ‘Inkblot’ has a similar habit but the foliage is wider, more glaucous with smoky-purple color and purple-lavender spots with less total coverage. ‘Moonglow’ has a more silvery blue-green leaf surface with dark purple spotting. ‘Thunderbird’ is smaller and more upright in habit with leaves that are shorter and more completely covered with dark red spots.

The female parent, 11-2-4, has much wider and longer leaves with smaller teeth, the dark leaf spots are larger and more separated, and there are fewer leaves per mature plant. The male plant has shorter leaves and is a smaller more compact plant, the apical spines marginal teeth are larger and firmer and the margin is distinctly darker brown.

The new plant, ‘Maverick’, is unique from allAgave, XMangaveandManfredaknown to the inventor by the following combined traits:1. Compact mounded habit with numerous leaves at flowering;2. Leaves lanceolate and dense, overlapping, dark, greyed-purple spotting in high light exposure;3. Foliage with small, sharp, firm, marginal teeth and semi-flexible sharp apical mucro;4. Moderate to rapid growth rate;5. Numerous chartreuse flowers on dense, stiff, tall, highly branched scapes.

