Rosettes (3.5-)4-6 × 6-7.5 dm. Leaves (18-)25-50 × (4.5-)8-12 cm; blade linear to ovate. Flowers 6-7.7 cm; perianth tube 9-12 mm, limb lobes (17-)19-24 mm; filaments 4-5.4 cm; ovary (2.7-) 3-4.7 cm. Flowering mid spring--mid summer. Gravelly to rocky places in grasslands, desert scrub, chaparral, pinyon-juniper, and oak woodlands; 1200--2800 m; Ariz., N.Mex.; nw Mexico. B. Ullrich (1992) showed that the earlier name Agave scabra Salm-Dyck was based on a collection attributable to A. parryi, and that the correct name for what H. S. Gentry (1982) called A. scabra is A. asperrima. Fortunately, the Salm-Dyck name is illegitimate, being a later homonym, and so A. parryi remains the correct one. Variety parryi hybridizes with A. chrysantha and A. schottii var. schottii in Arizona.

PLANT: Rosettes (35-)40-60 cm high, 60-75 cm broad. LEAVES: (18-)25-50 cm long, (4.5 )8-12 cm wide, linear-ovate. FLOWERS: 60-77 mm long; tepals (17-)19-24 mm long; filaments 40-54 mm long, inserted 6-11 mm above base of tube; ovary (27-)30-47 mm long, the style 60-70 mm long when stigma is receptive; floral tube 9-12 mm high, 14-18 mm wide. NOTES: Open slopes of grassland, chaparral, and pine-oak woodland: Cochise, See also parent taxon. Coconino, Gila, Graham, Greenlee, Maricopa, Navajo, Santa Cruz cos.; 1200-2800 m (4000-9200 ft); Jun-Jul; NM; Chih., Dur., Guan., Mex. Hybridizes with A. chrysantha in Gila Co. and A. schottii var. schottii in Pima and Cochise cos.