There are plants and then there are plants that make you sink to your knees and weep. Ran Fowler was on the hunt for the second kind—specifically a fine example of a rare succulent called Agave shawii. Fowler had first encountered the specimen in 2023 on a plant-hunting expedition to the Mexican desert. He was blown away by the beauty of its spines. Normally they are evenly spaced along the edge of the leaf, but on this plant they had fused, creating a ragged fringe that looked as if it had been dyed purple and pink.

Fowler, who owns a succulent nursery in southern California, knew it was risky to take a cutting from the agave. Mexico restricts the export of many succulents and it is illegal to take plants into America without declaring them. If border officials caught him, he could be sent to prison. But Fowler couldn’t help himself. The mother plant was surrounded by baby plants, known as offsets or pups. He wrested one from the ground and carried it back to his car. Two years later the cutting was thriving, but Fowler wanted more. In April 2025 he returned to Mexico, hoping to find the extraordinary agave once again. 

Travelling with him were two fellow cactophiles: Billy, who also ran a succulent nursery, and Chris, who described himself as “just a backyard hobbyist” but a “fully addicted” one (the names of all three men are pseudonyms, and some details have been changed). I grabbed a seat in Fowler’s blue Toyota SUV, curious to understand how succulents can stoke such passion. We set off from his home while it was still dark, and paused at a petrol station to stock up on crisps and burritos. This was to be breakfast and lunch—Fowler doesn’t waste time stopping for meals on his cactus expeditions. As dawn broke, a Grateful Dead album played quietly in the background and the men gossiped about fellow succulent lovers who’d had run-ins with Mexican cartels.