Agave americana

Succulent, forming rosettes, 1.5-2 m tall, 2-3 m wide, forming numerous layers/small plants, impressive flowering shoots when old.

Funnel-shaped, yellow-green, pleasantly fragrant, in clusters on leafless terminal panicles extending from the centre of the rosette, up to 8 m long, summer, dying after flowering.

Ovoid to round capsules with numerous, flat, black seeds.

Succulent, fleshy, stiff, pointed thorns and margins, lanceolate, grey-green, up to 2 m long.

Full sun, barely tolerant of frost, cold or temperate house.

Soil moderately nutritious, alkaline, very well drained.

The impressive flowering shoots are only formed on very old plants, and the mother plant dies shortly after flowering.

Zone 9