The genus Beschorneria

The genus Beschorneria Kunth brings together succulent plants with rosettes of soft, spineless leaves, native to the mountains of Mexico, with one species reaching Guatemala and Honduras. It belongs to the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae, alongside agaves and yuccas, and is one of the agavoids most often grown in mild gardens. Plants of the World Online (POWO) recognises nine species, and a tenth was described in 2025. Their appeal lies in their arching flower stalks, whose rosy-red bracts carry hanging green flowers. Beschorneria yuccoides, the Mexican lily, is the only species common in gardens; it grows outdoors in mild-winter climates such as southern England, Brittany or the Mediterranean coast, although in one Mediterranean garden every plant was lost to the agave snout weevil.

Key facts about Beschorneria

  • Accepted name (POWO): Beschorneria Kunth, published in 1850 in Enumeratio Plantarum 5: 844
  • Number of accepted species: 9 according to POWO (count relayed by Wikipedia), plus Beschorneria starrii, described in 2025; the WCVP, the Kew checklist behind POWO (consulted on GBIF on 31 October 2026) accepts 10, including Beschorneria starrii
  • Former names: Furcraea tubiflora Kunth & C.D.Bouché, now Beschorneria tubiflora
  • Family: Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae (formerly Agavaceae)
  • Common names: Mexican lily, amole (for Beschorneria yuccoides); no common name for the genus as a whole
  • Natural range: Mexico to Honduras (POWO), mainly eastern and central Mexico
  • Protection: no CITES listing (no taxon of the genus in Species+, checked on 31 October 2026); three species protected in Mexico (NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010)
  • IUCN: no assessment found
  • Documented hardiness: Beschorneria yuccoides is rated H3 by the Royal Horticultural Society; figures from −5 °C to −9.5 °C are quoted depending on the source; Beschorneria septentrionalis is grown in USDA zones 7b to 10b by a North Carolina nursery (see Cultivation)
  • Exposure and soil: sun or part shade depending on climate; well-drained but not necessarily poor soil
  • Habit: stemless or short-stemmed rosettes forming clumps; arching stalks up to about 1.5 m in Beschorneria yuccoides
  • Toxicity: no reliable data found (see Toxicity and precautions)

Characteristics of the genus Beschorneria

A Beschorneria looks like a soft-leaved agave: its rosette of strap-shaped, slightly fleshy leaves, grey-green and often glaucous, bears neither a terminal spine nor sharp teeth. Most species have no visible trunk and gradually form clumps of several rosettes.

The inflorescence is what defines the genus. In Beschorneria yuccoides, as described by Trees and Shrubs Online and the Ruth Bancroft Garden:

  • a coral-red stalk rises from the rosette and bends under its own weight;
  • towards the top, short drooping branches each arise in the axil of a red bract;
  • each branch carries three to five hanging, tubular flowers, bright green and sometimes flushed red at the base.

Across the genus, flowers are generally yellowish-green to reddish depending on the species. The fruit is a capsule. The shape and colour of the flowers point to hummingbird pollination, observed in some species according to Wikipedia, but published data remain thin.

Taxonomy and classification

Beschorneria is a genus accepted by POWO, placed in the Agavoideae. It used to belong to the Agavaceae, a family the APG classification merged into the Asparagaceae. Bogler, Pires and Francisco-Ortega (2006, Aliso) placed it in the Agavaceae in the strict sense, with Agave, Furcraea, Hesperaloe, Manfreda, Polianthes and Yucca. More recent molecular analyses (Smith et al. 2008; Halpin and Fishbein 2013, cited in Phytotaxa in 2025) place Beschorneria in the group that is sister to the yuccas, together with Agave in the strict sense, Manfreda and Polianthes. The claim, sometimes repeated, that Beschorneria and Furcraea are sister genera is not supported by the sources consulted.

A genus still being explored

The number of species has changed recently, which explains the differences between sources:

  • Abisaí García-Mendoza, the Mexican specialist of the genus, described Beschorneria calcicola (1986) and Beschorneria septentrionalis (1988);
  • Beschorneria carolinae was described by Jimeno-Sevilla and García-Gutiérrez in Phytoneuron in December 2024, from plants of the Sierra de Zongolica (Veracruz); POWO accepts it;
  • in 2025, Tristan J. Davis and Gonzalo Juárez García described in Haseltonia a new species from the limestone hills of central Veracruz and neighbouring Puebla, previously confused with Beschorneria calcicola: Beschorneria starrii. It is accepted by the WCVP, the Kew checklist behind POWO (consulted on GBIF on 31 October 2026).

Two older names matter to the reader. Beschorneria tubiflora was first described as Furcraea tubiflora Kunth & C.D.Bouché before Kunth transferred it to Beschorneria in 1850. According to POWO, Beschorneria yuccoides includes a subspecies dekosteriana (K.Koch) García-Mend.; some nurseries sell plants under names that POWO does not recognise, for example linked to Beschorneria septentrionalis.

Etymology and history of the genus

The genus honours Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Beschorner (1806–1873), a German amateur botanist. Carl Sigismund Kunth published it in 1850 in the fifth volume of his Enumeratio Plantarum. The type species could not be verified in the sources consulted.

In cultivation, Beschorneria yuccoides is now found in gardens of western Europe: Cambridge University Botanic Garden displays it in its collections, and the RHS has a plant profile for it. The date of its introduction to Europe was not found in a reliable source.

Common names

In English, Beschorneria yuccoides is called “Mexican lily”; in Mexico and in American catalogues it is also called “amole”, a Spanish word used for several plants employed as soap. This name is ambiguous and does not refer to Beschorneria alone. No attested English name was found for the genus as a whole: gardeners simply say “beschorneria”.

Biogeography and ecology

Beschorneria is above all a genus of the Mexican mountains, often in the light shade of oak and pine forests or on limestone rocks, far from the scorching deserts of many agaves. Most species have a small range:

  • North-eastern Mexico: Beschorneria septentrionalis and Beschorneria dubia (Tamaulipas); Beschorneria rigida (Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas), in oak-pine understorey between about 1,800 and 2,400 m according to Pacific Horticulture.
  • East-central Mexico: Beschorneria yuccoides (Hidalgo, Puebla, Veracruz); Beschorneria tubiflora (Hidalgo, Querétaro, Veracruz); Beschorneria calcicola (southern Puebla, north-western Oaxaca, Veracruz); Beschorneria carolinae and Beschorneria starrii (Veracruz and neighbouring Puebla).
  • West and centre: Beschorneria wrightii (Michoacán, State of Mexico).
  • South: Beschorneria albiflora, from Oaxaca and Chiapas to Guatemala and Honduras.

Outside its range, Beschorneria yuccoides is recorded as a casual exotic in New Zealand, without forming established populations. No reliable source was found for naturalisation in New Zealand or elsewhere.

Regulation and conservation

No international protection covers the genus, but several species are protected in Mexico. To our knowledge, no Beschorneria species is listed in the CITES appendices (no taxon of the genus in Species+, checked on 31 October 2026), and no IUCN Red List assessment was found. According to the eFloraMEX database of UNAM, the Mexican standard NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 lists:

  • Beschorneria calcicola and Beschorneria tubiflora as “threatened” (amenazada);
  • Beschorneria wrightii as “subject to special protection” (sujeta a protección especial).

Plants in the trade are nursery-grown. Statuses consulted in September 2026; they may change and should be checked with the relevant authorities.

Growing Beschorneria

Beschorneria is grown like a more tolerant agave: it accepts richer soil and some shade, but dislikes hard frost and standing water in winter. Published advice concerns almost exclusively Beschorneria yuccoides.

Outdoor / in-ground cultivation

  • Exposure: full sun in a sheltered spot facing south or west, according to NC State Extension and the RHS; according to Plant Delights Nursery, Beschorneria septentrionalis flowers best with only two or three hours of direct sun in a hot climate.
  • Soil: humus-rich but very well-drained loam (RHS).
  • Watering: moderate during the growing season, reduced in winter.

Hardiness figures vary between sources, and none is based on published measurements:

  • the RHS rates Beschorneria yuccoides H3 (−5 °C to −1 °C), some profiles giving H3 to H4;
  • NC State Extension recommends a site where temperatures do not drop below −5 °C;
  • Wikipedia quotes −9.5 °C in the ground, less in a pot;
  • Plant Delights Nursery (North Carolina) grows Beschorneria septentrionalis in USDA zones 7b to 10b, zone 7b corresponding to average annual minimums of −14.9 °C to −12.2 °C.

By climate type, the documented examples are few. In the oceanic climate of England, Trees and Shrubs Online describes its cultivation outdoors, and Cambridge University Botanic Garden grows it. In France, a nursery and Wikipedia report that Beschorneria yuccoides is common in gardens in Brittany (mild, wet winters) and on the Mediterranean coast. No dated result was found for other regions (California, South Africa, Australia), nor any record of damage during a specific winter.

In Mediterranean climates, the main documented danger is not cold but the agave snout weevil (Scyphophorus acupunctatus), whose documented or suspected hosts include Beschorneria, according to the site’s article on this pest. At the Jardin zoologique tropical in La Londe-les-Maures (Var, southern France), Beschorneria proved particularly susceptible to this pest, as did Furcraea: all the plants of both genera there were destroyed within a few years.

Container cultivation

Growing in a pot is possible, but the plant is somewhat less cold-tolerant there than in the ground, and it needs frost-free winter shelter in cold regions. Use a free-draining mix, water moderately in summer and sparingly in winter.

Propagation and cultivars

Beschorneria is propagated by separating the offsets that form around the clumps, or from seed. The variegated cultivar ‘Flamingo Glow’ (denomination ‘BESYS’), a selection of Beschorneria yuccoides, is protected by a US plant patent (PP22162) and is listed in the RHS database. The other cultivar names sometimes cited, and any Award of Garden Merit, could not be confirmed in a reliable source.

Toxicity and precautions

No reliable data document the toxicity of Beschorneria to humans or pets, but none demonstrate that it is harmless. In Mexico, the roots and leaves of Beschorneria yuccoides are traditionally used as soap, according to NC State Extension, which suggests foaming substances whose nature has not been verified. In the related agaves, the sap contains calcium oxalate crystals and saponins that irritate the skin. As a precaution, wear gloves when handling cut leaves; in case of ingestion or skin reaction, contact a poison control centre, a doctor or a veterinarian.

Traditional uses

According to NC State Extension, Beschorneria yuccoides is used in Mexico as food (flowers and flower buds), as soap (roots and leaves) and as a source of fibre (leaves). No primary ethnobotanical source could be consulted to detail these uses.

Species of the genus Beschorneria

The list follows POWO nomenclature, supplemented by the species described in 2025, in alphabetical order.

  • Beschorneria albiflora Matuda: the southernmost species, from Oaxaca and Chiapas to Honduras.
  • Beschorneria calcicola García-Mend.: southern Puebla, north-western Oaxaca, Veracruz; described in 1986; threatened in Mexico.
  • Beschorneria carolinae (Jimeno-Sevilla and García-Gutiérrez, 2024): Sierra de Zongolica (Veracruz); described in 2024.
  • Beschorneria dubia Carrière: Tamaulipas.
  • Beschorneria rigida Rose: Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas; upland oak-pine understorey.
  • Beschorneria septentrionalis García-Mend.: Tamaulipas; discovered in 1987, described in 1988; grown in the United States down to USDA zone 7b.
  • Beschorneria starrii (Davis and Juárez García, 2025): limestone hills of central Veracruz and neighbouring Puebla; described in 2025, accepted by the WCVP, the checklist behind POWO.
  • Beschorneria tubiflora (Kunth & C.D.Bouché) Kunth: Hidalgo, Querétaro, Veracruz; formerly Furcraea tubiflora; threatened in Mexico.
  • Beschorneria wrightii Hook.f.: Michoacán, State of Mexico; protected in Mexico.
  • Beschorneria yuccoides K.Koch: Hidalgo, Puebla, Veracruz; the Mexican lily, the species grown in gardens, with the subspecies dekosteriana.

FAQ about Beschorneria

Is Beschorneria yuccoides frost-hardy?

Yes, to moderate frost. The RHS rates it H3, and sources quote limits of −5 °C to −9.5 °C in the ground, in well-drained soil and a sheltered position. In a pot it is somewhat less hardy and needs winter shelter in cold regions.

Does a Beschorneria die after flowering?

It depends on what is meant by the plant. The sources consulted do not clearly settle the fate of the rosette that has flowered, but clumps made of several rosettes go on living and flowering in later years, unlike a solitary agave.

What is the difference between Beschorneria and Agave?

Mainly leaves and flowers. Beschorneria has soft leaves without a terminal spine, and hanging green flowers surrounded by red bracts on an arching stalk; agaves have rigid, often armed leaves and upright flowers.

Can Beschorneria grow in shade?

In part shade, yes, in hot climates. Plant Delights Nursery recommends only two or three hours of direct sun for Beschorneria septentrionalis. In cool climates, the RHS advises full sun in a sheltered spot instead.

Why is my Beschorneria collapsing in a Mediterranean garden?

Suspect the agave snout weevil. Beschorneria proved highly susceptible to Scyphophorus acupunctatus, whose larvae hollow out the heart of the plant, at the Jardin zoologique tropical in the Var, where all plants of the genus were lost to it. Excess winter water is the other frequent cause of rot.

Is Beschorneria toxic?

It is not known. No reliable data exist for the genus; its traditional use as soap and the irritant sap of related agaves call for caution. In case of ingestion, consult a doctor or veterinarian.

Further reading on Succulentes

Reference sites

Bibliography

  • Kunth, C.S. (1850). Enumeratio Plantarum 5: 844. [Publication of the genus; reference taken from POWO.]
  • García-Mendoza, A. (1986). Beschorneria calcicola. Herbertia 42: 28. [Description of the species; taken from POWO.]
  • Bogler, D.J., Pires, J.C. & Francisco-Ortega, J. (2006). Phylogeny of Agavaceae based on ndhF, rbcL, and ITS sequences: implications of molecular data for classification. Aliso 22: 313–328. [Peer-reviewed article; position of Beschorneria in Agavaceae sensu stricto.]
  • Ayala-Hernández, M.M., Fehlberg, S.D., García-Mendoza, A.J., Solano, E., García-Sandoval, R. & Samain, M.-S. (2025). Phylogenetic relationships and character evolution in Yucca (Agavoideae, Asparagaceae). Phytotaxa 687(2): 176–200. [Peer-reviewed article; synthesis of relationships between Yucca, Agave, Beschorneria and related genera.]
  • Jimeno-Sevilla & García-Gutiérrez (2024). Description of Beschorneria carolinae. Phytoneuron 2024-83. [Primary literature; authors’ first names, exact title and pagination not verified.]
  • Davis, T.J. & Juárez García, G. (2025). A new species of Beschorneria Kunth from central Mexico. Haseltonia 32(1). doi:10.2985/026.032.0102 [Primary literature; description of Beschorneria starrii. Full title and pagination not verified.]