Essential Information & explanations, latest texts & monographs on
Agave.
Agave
Agave
(image here)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
Division:Magnoliophyta
Class:Liliopsida
Order:Asparagales
Family: Agavaceae
Genus: Agave
Species
Agave americana
(many more)
For the Greek queen, see Agave (Greek mythological queen).
Agave, a large botanical genus of the family Agavaceae. (At one point it as well as Amaryllis were placed among the Liliaceae, but have now definitely been placed in a separate order, the Asparagales; however Agave and related forms have by most recent sources, notably Judd et al, been placed in a family Agavaceae separate from the Amaryllidaceae.) Agave plants are succulent.
The plants are chiefly Mexican, but occur also in the southern and western United States and in central and tropical South America. The plants have a large rosette of thick fleshy leaves generally ending in a sharp point and with a spiny margin; the stout stem is usually short, the leaves apparently springing from the root. They grow slowly and flower but once after a number of years, when a tall stem or "mast" grows from the centre of the leaf rosette and bears a large number of shortly tubular
flowers. After development of fruit the plant dies down, but suckers are frequently produced from the base of the stem which become new plants. The most familiar species is Agave americana, a native of tropical America, the so-called century plant or American aloe (the maguey of Mexico). The number of years before flowering occurs depends on the vigour of the individual, the richness of the soil and the climate; during these years the plant is storing in its fleshy leaves the nourishment required for the effort of flowering. During the development of the inflorescence there is a rush of sap to the base of the young flowerstalk. In the case of A. americana and other species this is used by the Mexicans to make their national beverage, pulque; the flower shoot is cut out and the sap collected and subsequently fermented. By distillation a spirit called mezcal is prepared. The leaves of several species yield fibre, as for instance, A. rigida var. sisalana, sisal hemp, A. decipiens, false sisal hemp; A. americana is the source of pita fibre, and is used as a fibre plant in Mexico, the West Indies and southern Europe. The flowering stem of the last named, dried and cut in slices, forms natural razor strops, and the expressed juice of the leaves will lather in water like soap. In India the plant is extensively used for hedges along railroads.
Agave americana, 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. As the leaves unfold from the
centre of the rosette the impression of the marginal spines
is very conspicuous on the still erect younger leaves. The tequ
plants are usually grown in tubs and put out in the summer
months, but in the winter require to be protected from
frost. They mature very slowly and die after flowering, but
are easily propagated by the offsets from the base of the stem.
Above text from is an old text now in the public domain, but with the classification details updated.
Agave nectar has been used as an alternative to sugar in cooking.
FURTHER INFORMATION ON AGAVE IN COOKING
The above article is adapted from from Wikipedia All Wikipedia article text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
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