Agave americana (Century Plant, American agave) / 10 seeds

Although Agave americana is known as century plant, its lifespan is only 10 to 30 years, just like most century plants which don’t live longer than 30 years and each of their rosettes of leaves usually dies after flowering, although basal clonal pups may continue growing.

Agave americana is the winner of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society. Older specimens sometimes may develop a short woody stem at the plant’s base and produce many suckers that form a large clump or colony. Otherwise, the stems of this plant are short and woody, although massive flowering stems develop with time. They are bluish grey (glaucous) to greyish green with bract-like leaves that are alternatively arranged. However, plants with variegated leaves are relatively common. Margins of leaves are serrate, with prickly teeth (up to 1 cm long), 2-6 cm apart from each other. They have a pointed tip topped with a large dark-brown spine (1.5 – 6 cm long). Leaves at the plant’s base are very large (1-2 m long, 15-25 cm wide), long and narrow and form a rosette. They are often rigid and somewhat fleshy (succulent). They may be upright or spreading, and even sometimes bent backwards near their tips. Upon full maturity, Agave americana produces a massive flower cluster (1-8 m long) on a strong flowering stem 6 to 12 m tall. The beautiful flowers are yellow or greenish-yellow in color and are 7-10 cm long. They have 6 petals fused together at the base forming a short 8-20 mm long tube. They have 6 very prominent stamens and a large ovary topped with a style and three stigmas. The fruit of Agave americana is a large 3-8 cm long oblong capsule with a pointed tip containing 3 compartments. Upon maturity these capsules turn brown and blackish in color from green and ultimately split open to release 6-8 mm long black, shiny seeds. Agave americana is highly salt tolerant as well as heat and cold tolerant, and moderately deer resistant too but attracts hummingbird and other birds. Along with vegetative offsets, it can also be propagated with seeds, which is a recommended propagation strategy for this plant. Seed germination rate is high.

Agave americana is a hardy species and grows in a variety of conditions, such as woodlands, grasslands, urban areas, beaches, sandy areas, riparian zones, cliffs, and rocky slopes. It grows in hot areas with limited rainfall like southern Arizona and also in areas with cooler temperatures such as Mediterranean coastal climates provided it receives some water in summer. This plant is tolerant to salt, wind, extreme drought and high temperatures. Some varieties have some frost resistance in southern temperate climates and can tolerate temperatures as low as -9-degree C or even lower.

Agave americana is native to northern and central Mexico and some parts of southern USA, but is naturalized in mainland Australia, New Zealand, southern Europe, the Canary Islands, southern Africa and southern China. It occurs in temperate, subtropical and semi-arid regions, along roadsides, in pastures, woodlands, coastal environments and banks of watercourses.

The sap of Agave americana is used in numerous culinary preparations including, sweeteners, alcoholic beverages, leavening, fortifier, and also prepare syrup, vinegar, panela, tortillas, ice cream, barbecues, bread etc. Its leaves are used for handicrafts, and also for construction and fuel. The plant is also used to feed livestock. The plant is used as live fencing in gardens and farms to restrict grazing and also for erosion control. The leaves also have medicinal properties like antifungal, antibacterial, insecticidal and molluscicidal. They also contain angiotensin-converting enzymes that can be used to treat hypertension and sapogenins that can be used in the making of semisynthetic corticosteroids.