1219.000 Agave L.

Fayaz, F. (2011) Encyclopedia of Tropical Plants Firefly Books, New Zealand

Description of the genus

Perennial or monocarpic herbs; stems very short or indistinct. Leaves in a basal rosette; lamina large, stout, fleshy or somewhat woody, containing many fibres; margins spiny, rarely entire, apex tipped with a spine. Inflorescence a terminal spike or panicle, usually very large. Flowers with a short perianth tube; lobes 6, narrow, subequal. Ovary inferior. Fruit a capsule, oblong, trivalved. Seeds numerous, black, thin and flattened.

Derivation of name: From a Greek word meaning admirable.

Worldwide: At least 100 species in Southern USA to South America

Zimbabwe: 5 cultivated taxa.

Links to cultivated taxa View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

Species	Content
americana L.	Image
attenuata Salm-Dyck	Description, Image
sisalana Perrine
victoriae-reginae T. Moore
vivipara L. var. vivipara	Description, Image

Other sources of information about Agave:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Agave
Flora of Burundi: Agave
Flora of Mozambique: Agave
Flora of Mozambique: cultivated Agave
Flora of Zambia: cultivated Agave

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Agave
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Agave
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Agave
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Agave
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Agave
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Agave
JSTOR Plant Science: Agave
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Agave
Plants of the World Online: Agave
Tropicos: Agave
Wikipedia: Agave