AGAVE (ah-gah’-ve) – A genus containing many species of handsome plants with long, stiff evergreen leaves forming clumps or rosettes from which rise the tall, bare flower stems. They belong to the Amaryllis Family and are natives of warm arid and semi-arid regions of America. They are of great economic importance, rope being manufactured from the fibre, and food, beverages, soap and other products from the pulp. Some bloom annually,’ but most of them at much longer intervals and some species die after flowering. In the South some kinds are planted as lawn specimens or about the foundations of houses, but only the species Agave americana is common as a house or porch plant in the North. Agaves are variously propagated – by seed, from the bulbels formed in the flower clusters, from suckers, or by underground stems. The soil should be a mixture of sand and loam and thoroughly drained.
If anthracnose spots occur on the leaves, these should be removed and burned.
Agave americana, called Century-plant, in the erroneous belief that it blooms only when 100 years old, has leaves sometimes 6 ft. long and a flower stalk up to 40 ft. high. As a matter of fact, it does not bloom until after it is 10 or more years old ; it then dies, but new plants develop from suckers at the base. The flowers, about 2 1/2 in. across, are greenish and borne on many horizontal branches at the top of the stalk. This species is often used as a potted specimen in the North, especially the var. marginata which has white-margined leaves.
Other interesting and economically interesting species are : Agave atrovirens, or Pulque Agave, from which an alcoholic Mexican drink is made ; Agave fourcroydes, or Henequen, source of a Yucatan fibre ; and, especially, Agave sisolana or Sisal-hemp, whose habitat is unknown but which is extensively cultivated for its fibre largely used in rope making. Smaller species may be used in rock or desert gardens.
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