The Century Plant or the American Century Plant (Agave americana) is an Mexico but cultivated worldwide.
Century Plant in bloom
It has a spreading rosette (up to 9 m wide) of gray-green leaves up to 2 meters (6 ft) long, each with a spiny margin and a heavy spike at the tip. Its common name derives from its habit of only occasionally flowering, but when it does, the spike with a cyme of big yellow flowers, may reach up to 8 meters (25 ft) in height. The plant dies after flowering. The average life-span is around 25 years.
Cultivated varieties include the 'Marginata' with yellow stripes along the margins of each leaf, 'Mediopicta' with a central light band, and 'Striata' with multiple stripes along the leaves.
It is also known as the American aloe, although it is not related to the true aloes.
Subspecies
Agave americana var. americana
Agave americana var. expansa
Agave americana var. latifolia
Agave americana var. marginata
Agave americana var. medio_picta
Agave americana var. oaxacensis
Agave americana ssp. protamericana
Agave americana var. striata
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Agaves are succulent plants of a large botanical genus of the same name, belonging to the family Agavaceae.
Agaveamericana, century plant, was introduced into Europe about the middle of the 16th century and is now widely cultivated for its handsome appearance; in the variegated forms the leaf has a white or yellow marginal or central stripe from base to apex.
Agaves have long presented special difficulties for taxonomy; variations within a species may be considerable, and a number of named species are of unknown origin, and may just be variants of original wild species.
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